10 Questions with ... Matt Caesar

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

• Major Market stations: WQAL & WIFI (Philadelphia) WZGC, WIIN, WSB AM/FM (Atlanta)
• Top 40 stations: WMPT (Williamsport, PA) WIFI (Philadelphia) WZGC, WIIN (Atlanta) WRFC (Athens, GA)
• In the 80’s I was Operation Manager at WPEZ, Macon when it was 100kw at 107.9FM.
• In 1988, I rejoined WGAU for mornings. In 1992, I became PD. Last summer, I became PD when we moved WXKT to Gainesville.

1. How did you get your start in radio? Why radio?

As a child, I had many eye surgeries. Back then, that meant a lot of time in a hospital bed lying flat on your back. That’s when radio and I became close friends.

During Christmas break from broadcasting school, my FCC license arrived. With the tough test back then, you really felt like you’d achieved something. So I got out the Philly phone book and started calling stations announcing my readiness! WQAL hired me fulltime for evenings. You’ll note that I got all the way down to the letter Q before someone took me seriously! Only later did I learn about tapes and resumes.

2. About what are you most passionate these days?

Outside of work and family, which I hope come first for everyone:

1. The lack of music from my era on the radio. Apparently, there’s no one left who can program an oldies station CORRECTLY!

2. Cats.

3. You put an FM talk station on the air close to where you have your AM talker as well; while they're not precisely in the same market, they do overlap. Do they compete or are they aimed at different physical or demographic markets? What, if anything, are the different programming philosophies behind the stations? (And how do you "compete," if you have to, with your sister WSB booming in from adjacent Atlanta?)

My programming philosophy is "If you’re talking about it, we’re talking about it." I’d like to thank the person who wrote that line. If you run everything you do through that filter, you’ll stay on target. It works for any format too.

Even though there’s some signal overlap, the two stations are targeted to two different markets. An emphasis on local news, weather, UGA sports, and local talk (by each station) makes that work. The lineup of network shows offers listeners a new choice.

WGAU has always performed well against WSB here in Athens. Since WXKT is on FM, I believe most of our cume will come from other FM's. We’re creating new talk listeners. We’re the only talk station for many communities in our coverage area. WSB, WDUN, and WGAU are all solid local stations and I don’t think they have a thing to worry about.

4. You've worked at major market stations like WSB; in programming and being on the air in a peripheral market like Athens or Gainesville, what differences are there between the big city operation and what you do now? Is there a difference in approach, or is radio just radio wherever you are?

In the big city there are more toys, more staff, and more money. Nice to have, but the things that make great radio can be found anywhere. Hey, here I am in Athens working for Cox Radio and answering 10 Questions....

5. What do you foresee the near-future -- the next, say, ten years -- will be for AM talk radio? Is a station like WGAU, an award-winner with a powerful reputation, likely to hold on indefinitely or is the future FM, or online, or something else?

AM radio in the Jack Benny era, AM radio in the Beatles era, and AM radio in the Rush Limbaugh era are all very different animals. But they were all number one. Radio adapted to the times. I trust that we’ll all be smart enough to figure out what to do when it comes time.

6. Of what are you most proud?

My brother, Francis, who died from Muscular Dystrophy. Whenever you think things are tough, picture living with a disease like that.

7. Your stations carry a mix of local and syndicated talk. Of all the shows -- both the ones you carry and the ones you don't -- which are your favorites, purely as a listener?

As a listener, I like to be entertained. My all-time favorite talk show is Rush Limbaugh from the early years! It was a morning show minus the full-length songs. I wish there were a dozen shows like that out there now. I like Coast To Coast. The perfect show to listen to with the lights out and the covers over your head. It would never work in the daytime. I also like America’s Morning News. Pretty damn entertaining for a newscast!

8. If you hadn't gone into radio, what do you think you'd have ended up doing for a living?

I’m not trying to dodge the question, but I never really considered that a possibility.

9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ______________.

...Pepsi. What? You thought you’d get a philosophical answer?

10. What was the best advice you ever got? The worst?

Best advice: "Don’t cross now. There’s a car coming." -- from my mother. I just turned sixty, so I guess it’s working!

Worst advice: "Radio? Go to journalism school." -- from everyone I asked. Journalism schools didn’t teach radio then, and they don’t teach radio now!