10 Questions with ... Skip Mahaffey

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Three-time CMA Award winner with 27 years in radio. Tulsa (KVOO), Tucson (KIIM-KCUB), Phoenix (Mix 101), St. Louis (Y-98), San Diego (KSON), Los Angeles (Star-98), Columbus (WCOL), Tampa (WQYK), now back to KVOO/Tulsa!

1) Congratulations on your new morning show at KVOO. A lot of people probably don't know that you started your career there years ago. What is it like returning?

It's been great. The people here especially the audience has been very warm and accepting. They've really reached out and welcomed me. I get really irritated when people I know talk down people in Tulsa. Tulsans are some of the most honest and sincere people I've ever met. I really do miss many of my contacts and friends back in Tampa and living the bachelor life in a tiny apartment sucks (my girls are still in Tampa for now). But the funny thing is that I've only been in Tulsa since May but I have deeper history than anyone else on the radio here (outside of Billy Parker).

2) It must be a lot different doing a morning show in Tulsa as opposed to Tampa where you were for so many years. What are some of the biggest differences?

When it comes to the show itself, oddly enough, it's the commute time. The average commute in Tampa was nearly an hour, here in Tulsa, it's about 12 minutes. You have to set up and deliver quickly on everything you do. When it comes to content, I had a lot of people say, "uh-oh, you're in the Bible Belt, that means you'll have to change everything you do!" That's not true, Good content is good content, no matter where you are. I also have to remember that people here don't know me the way Tampa knows me. My PD Luke Jensen is always reminding me that I need to slow down and fill in some blanks.

3) What is your morning show like--how many players, what's the direction, etc.?

It's much more scaled back from anything I did in Tampa. One of the biggest problems we had in Tampa was the show got way too busy. I'd bring up something on the air, this player would have an opinion, the other would respond to what that one said, then they'd argue back and forth then one more would have a punch line then you'd try to get the audience involved and it would take 10 minutes to execute a 45 second bit.

Now, it's just Sunny and me. She's been at KVOO for 7 years and the audience loves her. She may play up the dippy blonde, but she's a former teacher with degrees in biology and very intelligent. Keep it simple, keep it moving, BE REAL and move on. We still have some benchmarks (You Can't Win This), but I have eliminated the bells, whistles and '80s radio yuk-yuks. Pretty much want it to be two people talking and interacting with an audience. Keep it organic, Country audiences can smell BS a mile away. Funny thing is, we are a diary market and I'm attacking it as if we were mired in a PPM battle.

4) You've had a great career with a very long run in Tampa, and have won a lot of accolades and awards along the way. What are some of your fondest, proudest moments?

I'm very proud of the CMA and Billboard Awards. But I'm just as proud as the awards I was given by the FBI. The events, moments I remember most were the ones that went beyond being a radio dork and being a member of the community. We helped raise millions of dollars for various charities, thousands of animals found homes. Our "Postcards From Home" promotion collected hundreds of thousands of hand-made postcards from local school kids to send to our troops. I was honored to be the emcee for the Change of Command Ceremony at USCENTCOM when General Tommy Franks turned over his command to General John Abazaid. We were so lucky to have a great relationship with our military. Another proud moment was working with local law enforcement honoring their fallen officers.

The one moment that really stands out to me happened years ago when two young men were car-jacked and murdered in a rural part of Hillsborough County. We were contacted on the air by the mother of one of the boys. She tearfully told us that they were grateful for us honoring their kids on the air and how devastated they were because they couldn't afford to bury their son. In less than 2 hours, the WQYK audience donated over $20,000 for the family and a generous business owner stepped up and paid for both burials. It really was a testimony to the character of the people of Tampa. It was a great run.

5) What keeps you motivated to continue to go to bed at dinner time and get up at 3am?

I have one more college tuition to pay for! Actually, my last experience in Tampa left a bad taste in my mouth. I knew, I KNOW I'm better than that experience and I know that I still have it in me to do a successful program and we've seen some of the success almost immediately since coming back to KVOO. I have a feeling that I'm not quite finished yet. The bottom line is I love what I do. KVOO and Journal are giving me back the freedom to do the show I'm capable of and it's fun again!

6) You have done much work with charities through the years, including St. Jude. Why is community service so important to you and do you feel radio is as good at that today as it used to be?

I'm a big believer that our biggest responsibility as broadcasters is to serve the community. I've always said you can have the best guests, the funniest bits and the most amazing stunts and they'll soon be forgotten. But they will always remember one genuine act of humanity. Is radio as good as it used to be? As an industry, we've seen better times. We were spoiled for so long and I think what we're going through now is a bit of a reality check. If we are not careful and if we do not change the way we do what we do to keep up with the changing habits of the audience, we will become obsolete, FAST!

There are great people in this industry who have learned the key to surviving AND succeeding is to keep up and stay ahead of the wants and needs of the consumer. Best example I can give you is Dr. Don Carpenter in Detroit. Three years ago, Doc jumped into social media etc with both feet. Not only has he survived, Country is now number one in Detroit. And while I don't know it for a fact, I'm wagering that Doc is doing three times the work for half the recognition and a third of the income he did ten years ago.

7) Radio has changed a lot from the time that you got in until now. Has that effected how you do your morning show at all?

Absolutely! While sitting out for 14 months, I had a lot of time to re-learn and understand where we are as broadcasters and where radio falls in the "big picture." Years ago, we were THE only source of information and entertainment for the average listener. They would wake up with us, get ready for work, drive to work, spend the day working and driving home with us. We had the luxury of being with them all day. Now, it's the opposite! We are disposable and they (the audience) are NOT hanging on every word. We are mostly white noise. John Q. Public has the attention span of a box of kittens. They are bombarded with information and content from a million different sources, the same exact sources we use to provide content. If you're going to Drudge or TMZ to get your first breaks of the morning, guess what? Your audience was already there HOURS AGO. Jeff from Jeff and Jer' has a great quote: "When everyone else gives them chicken, give them fish." I am constantly telling my partner Sunny Leigh to find the things around you that mean something to your audience that only YOU can provide to them.

And if you can do the bit in 90 seconds, you can do it in 40! Find your punchline and move on, because that's what your audience is doing.

8) You recently wrote a book entitled "Adventures With My Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce, Dysfunction and the Summer of Love." Congratulations on that. How long had you worked on it and how did it come about?

Thank you. Actually, it didn't take that long. It really started off as a present for my brother's 50th birthday. My older brother and I grew up in a divorced household in California in the '60s. When I was 3, my father drove my mom, my brothers and me from Oklahoma to California and dumped us off in a one room motel room and left. There was no Oprah, no Dr. Phil. You just dealt with it the best you could. My brother and I spent years schlepping back and forth between Los Angeles and San Francisco visiting my father, who was an alcoholic commercial pilot.

Our trips were bizarre (being left alone in the Tokyo airport for hours when I was 8) and often hysterical. To this day, whenever my brother and I get together, we always wind up swapping stories of "Adventures With My Father." Christmas Eve 2007, my brother said, "I wish you'd write these down, I can never remember them like you do." So I thought it would be cool if I gave my brother his life for his 50th birthday. I wrote the first 23 pages that night. By January of 2009, it was finished.

9) What was the experience on Oprah Radio like? Did it sell some books? And have you actually ever met O?

My experience with Oprah Radio was the most amazing in my professional career. What can I say? It's Oprah! She surrounds herself with the absolute best people in the business. Everybody knows about people like Dr. Oz, Maya Angelou and Erik Logan, but the people who work for her everyday, from the receptionist to her staff of producers, have such class. It permeates the building.

Honestly I didn't get to see Oprah. Ms. Winfrey was not there but honestly, I'm glad she wasn't. I was interviewed by the Rev. Ed Bacon.

If you've never heard of Rev. Ed, don't worry, you will soon. He is one of Oprah Radio's hosts for her Soul Series. Hands down, he is the most insightful, intelligent and articulate interviewers I have ever met. Broadcasting is a better profession with him in it.

10) Where and when did you first get the idea that you wanted to be on the radio?

Seal Beach, California, mid 1960s. My step-dad took me to downtown Long Beach to the studios of K-FOX. We took the elevator to I believe the top floor of this round building. The elevator doors opened and I saw a studio for the first time. There were a few people standing around a glass wall. On the other side of the glass were a couple of guys, a lot of cigarette smoke and some microphones. We stood there for a minute and then my dad leaned over and whispered, "That's Johnny Cash," pointing to the man in the black suit. I stood there and watched, but I didn't watch Cash - I was watching the guy on the other side of the microphone, Hugh Cherry. I was fascinated. I remember thinking "who is THIS guy? That was pretty cool.

I loved listening to Vin Scully call Dodger Games (still do), but I never really thought of doing radio again until I took a bet from a girlfriend to audition for a broadcasting school in Los Angeles. Taking her up on that bet was the second smartest thing I ever did, marrying her was the first!

1) What are your favorite weekend activities that allow you to re-charge?

Most likely you'll find me on my bicycle. I look really nasty in bike shorts, by the way.

2) What time do you go to bed during the week and do you ever sleep in on weekends?

I'm not one of those guys who take naps during the day and I usually go to bed between 9:30-11:00. I'm usually up by 8am on the weekends.

3) What is a fantasy job if you were not in radio?

Easy. I'd be writing and doing public speaking engagements or I'd want to be Samantha What's-Her-Face from the Travel Channel. If I couldn't do that, I want to be Tom Hoof, the head of promotions for the Tampa Bay Rays. Then I'd spend the off season driving the parking lot tram at Disney World.