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10 Questions with ... Shellie Hart
May 29, 2007
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NAME:Shellie HartTITLES:OM/PDSTATIONS:KFNK (Also OM, KUBE, KNBQ)MARKET:SeattleCOMPANY:Clear ChannelBORN:SeattleRAISED:Seattle
1) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
First job was KRKO in Everett, WA. Weekend hours were midnight-8a at $5 an hour ... backsellin' a whole bunch of Heart, Cars and Bruce Hornsby and the Range.
On my 5th birthday my dad took me shopping and said "pick out what you like" ... it was an AM transistor radio. I went to sleep at night with that little white earpiece/headphone listening to "KJR/Seattle ... Channel 95." (I can still hear the sing of the jingle in my head.) I've been addicted to radio ever since.
2) What led you to a career in radio?
Mid-'80s I was working in a record store and was real frustrated with what I heard on radio, rather lack of. So most definitely it was music. I can't sing, dance or even play an instrument but loved the art of pickin' a song that I felt "Everyone Needs To Hear This!"
3) Was there a defining moment, which made you realize "this is it"?
After leaving KRKO, I worked with C89 FM (KNHC). It was the first time that I felt the passion and personal connection between radio and listener.
4) If you were just starting out in radio, knowing now, what you didn't then, would you still do it?
I like the idea of knowing what I knew then and acting on it today ... back then it was instinctive. There's so much to process, and certainly more to the competitive landscape than there was 20 years ago. But still at the end of the day what comes out those speakers should be as simple and on-point as it was then ... brilliant at the basics.
5) What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?
Television news.
6) Where do you see the industry and yourself five years from now?
Radio is strong, personal and still massively effective. I spend 1/2 my day on air for KUBE and can tell you first hand that listeners love as much as they ever have their local radio stations. Programming and on-air will always go hand-in-hand with me.
7) What can we be doing with our station web sites to better our stations as a whole?
Pay as much attention to it as you do your on-air.
8) Who is your favorite air personality not on your staff?
I've worked with them all long enough now they're like family ... they're all my favorite! (*smile*)
9) What is the most rewarding promotion or activity your station has ever been involved with to benefit the community or a charity?
MIRACLE TOY DRIVE. Eric Powers and I live in an RV and do our shows together live in a parking lot of a mall somewhere during the Christmas holiday to raise 9,300 new and unwrapped toys.
10) Most of us have known or even worked for a "colorful" owner/GM/air talent. Care to share a story? (The names can be changed to protect the innocent.)
How about consultant? JERRY CLIFTON! Those who did work with him still quote him today and wonder if he knows that. He was crazy, yet painfully truthful. I miss him ... though today his truthfulness would scare the hell out of human resources.
Bonus Questions
If you could add any one full-time position to your budget with no questions asked, what would it be?
One webmaster to every radio station.
What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
When I'm on the air ... DIVA!
How do you keep tabs on the competition? When your competition attacks you on the air, how do you react?
The radar is always up on the competition. And as far as reacting when somebody attacks? Bring it ... so they sample and we'll convert 'em.
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