WKRQ (Q102)/Cincinnati's Natalie Jones Shares Assault Nightmare

Natalie Jones

The night of JULY 18th was typical for HUBBARD Hot AC WKRQ (Q102)/CINCINNATI evening jock NATALIE JONES.  With the last hour of her shift voicetracked, JONES left the station at 11p, stopped for some groceries and then headed for home.  She parked a block away from her place in the QUEEN CITY, in a part of town that she calls an "a nice urban area."

Without warning, JONES was attacked from behind, grabbed and slugged in the back of the head with a gun. She was then yanked around and the gun was jammed in her face. Her assailant demanded her phone, which she quickly handed over. Then he ran one way and she the other.  Some passersby quickly came to her aid and called 911. One thing that JONES is quick to point out is that "every phone number and contact that I had was in my phone. I didn't know anyone's phone number off the top of my head, so I couldn't even call anyone. That was a big take away for me throughout this whole thing."

She was rushed to a nearby hospital, received 10 staples in her head and discharged at 3:30a, again with no phone and now with no car. Fortunately she'd run into an old college pal/on-duty nurse who called an UBER so that she was finally able to make her way home.

JONES told ALL ACCESS that two weeks went by before she felt ready to open up with the station's listeners on the air about what had happened. "I'm so fortunate to work with an extremely supportive bunch of people," JONES said. "Starting with (HUBBARD/CINCINNATTI OM) PATTI (MARSHALL), everyone has made sure that I'm doing okay and feeling comfortable."  

When it came time to tell her story on the air, JONES did so first on Q102's JEFF & JENN morning show, before continuing the conversation on her own night show. "It's been empowering," said JONES. "I want people, especially other women, to take away whatever they can from my experience. And it's crazy that our whole lives are on our phones. She also complimented the station's audience by saying, "the listeners couldn't have been any better. Many have unfortunately shared similar stories, and it's been nice not to feel alone out there, between them and everyone at the station."  

While her physical wounds are mostly healed, she says that it'll be a while before she feels completely back to being her old self. A CINCINNATI native, JONES joined her hometown station for nights last OCTOBER -- it's her first professional radio job, arriving from a volunteer position with NPR KOTO/TELLURIDE, CO. The perpetrator is still on the loose, and the police have noticed an uptick in similar attacks in recent weeks. They have beefed up patrols in that part of the city.

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