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10 Questions with ... Chris Smith
November 22, 2005
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NAME:Chris SmithTITLE:Morning Co-HostSTATIONS:WKAI (K100)MARKET:Macomb, ILCOMPANY:Prairie Radio CommunicationsBORN:June 17, 1969 in Macomb, ILRAISED:Macomb, IL
Please outline your radio career so far:
WJEQ-FM, Macomb, IL (1987 - 1988)
WKAI-FM (K100), Macomb, IL (1988 - 1989)
WJEQ-FM, Macomb, IL (1989 - 1991)
Golf courses in Denver, Colorado (1991 - 1992)
WJEQ-FM, Macomb, IL (1992-1994)
WMOI-FM/WRAM-AM, Monmouth, IL (1995)
WKAI-FM, Macomb, IL (1995-2005)1) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
Remember back in the old days when people actually were at the radio station on weekends during the overnight? Remember when that used to be the way we trained radio folks? That was me! Cueing up 45s and stacking carts meant we actually had something to do seemingly constantly during our airshift.
Growing up in Macomb, WKAI was a beautiful music station. All day. Every day. Except for four hours every Sunday night when JOE GARNER (now a best-selling author of such books as "We Interrupt This Broadcast" and others) would come on the air with "Disco 100." I kid you not! I never missed a show and even won a Coke radio. It was a radio shaped like a Coca-Cola bottle. Joe shaped me in ways he'll probably never know. He has even been a guest on my show several times with his various books. One time, I even grabbed an old tape I had of "Disco 100" and played back some of his audio. It was great stuff. I believe he was introing Edwin Starr's "Contact." I hope he's forgiven me by now.
2) What led you to a career in radio? Was there a defining moment, which made you realize "this is it"?
When I was approximately six years old, I got a Raggedy Ann & Andy sing-a-long record player. However, that microphone wasn't for singing ... it was for back announcing songs! I can still remember trying to announce songs by reading the label of my Ronco record while it spun round and round.
3) If you were just starting out in radio, knowing now, what you didn't then, would you still do it?
Absolutely! Make no mistake about it: if you're getting into this business, do it because you love it. I do. I'll miss it. I can promise you it is not very likely that you'll make a ton of cash doing it. And I can promise you one other thing: in all likelihood, that hot sounding chick on the listener line ... ain't that hot. (Think about it! Why would she be calling you! If she was that hot, she would already have a date.)
4) What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?
Beginning next week, I'll begin following a path in computers. I'll be an applications programmer at the local university. This is a great town and now that I'm a dad of two grade school aged kids, I want them to grow up here in the middle of cornfields and bean fields.
5) What makes your station or market unique? How does this compare to other markets or stations you have worked at?
I'm not sure it's a blessing or a curse, but I've been in the same market for almost all of my 18-year career. I'm okay with that, really. I've worked with some great.
6) How do you feel terrestrial radio competes with the satellite radio and Internet these days?
What I feel radio cannot become is a portable jukebox or I-pod. We need to be entertainers. We need to be relevant. We are not a portable music player. We need to drive a wedge between us, and those things and set ourselves apart.
7) How have the recent FCC regulations impacted the way you program your music and the station's dialogue on the air? What are your feelings about these recent changes?
Spending my whole career in small market radio, I can say that the FCC has never been chomping at the bit to cover up my bare nipple-pierced breast. But as a dad, I've always tried to do a show that I wouldn't be embarrassed for my kids to listen to. They're my biggest fans! They listen all the time. I don't want to put the burden on my wife RACHEL of having to explain why RICHARD GERE and gerbils in the same sentence is funny. That's why I wait until the kids are in school for that punch line.
8) How do you feel terrestrial radio competes with the satellite radio and Internet these days?
What I feel radio cannot become is a portable jukebox or I-pod. We need to be entertainers. We need to be relevant. We are not a portable music player. We need to drive a wedge between us, and those things and set ourselves apart.
9) What are your three favorite artists or songs of this year?
I absolutely cannot get JOSH KELLY'S "Only You" out of my head! I love it! (And the video is hot, too.) GWEN STEFANI is awesome. TRAIN'S "Get To Me" rocks, too.
10) What was the biggest gaffe you've made on air? (dead air ... forget a mic was still on ... etc.)
Just as I went on for a high school basketball game, 15 seconds into the game I flipped the wrong switch which muted my audio. I called an entire ballgame that never aired. What's even worse is our competitors do the same games, so everyone who wanted to hear the game that night had to listen to the competition.
Bonus Questions
What is your favorite radio station outside of the market and why?
I listen to WGN, Chicago all the time. Steve, John ... love you, love your shows.
What has been the station's biggest accomplishment?
Winning the Illinois Broadcasters Association Small Market Station Of The Year award this year.
What is the most rewarding promotion or activity your station has ever been involved with to benefit the community or a charity?
Every year we do "Freezing For Food." We're in the midst of it right now. We've won two Illinois Broadcasters Association Silver Dome Awards for the activity. This year's event is just underway and you can see how it's going at: www.radiomacomb.com/contests/freezing/index.html.
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