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10 Questions with ... Freak Daddy 'Clay Sanders'
October 13, 2009
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
- WBLG: 1994-1995
- WCVK:1995-1998
- The Dave Ramsey Show: 1998-2000
- KMYL: 2000-2002
- WRTT: 2003-present
1. What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
I was an overnight board op for WBLG (The Gator G-107). I remember actually getting to read the weather one time an hour and thought I had made it.
My early influence was Cawood Ledford, who was the voice of the Kentucky Wildcats and voiced the Kentucky Derby for CBS Radio. No one could make the radio come alive like Cawood. I also was a big fan of Terry Meiners on 840 WHAS in Louisville.
2. What makes your station or market unique? How does this compare to other markets or stations you have worked at?
Rocket 95.1 is about to turn 10 years old and has the strongest radio brand that I have ever worked for. Huntsville is a town with the most unique cross-section of people that you will ever see. In one subdivision, you may have a dentist, a school teacher, a construction worker and someone who is working for NASA. The Rocket is Huntsville, Alabama, from the great mix of rock to the logo, which fits the station and the city better than any radio logo in the country.
As far as where I have worked, they all have a special place, but Huntsville is the best experience and job so far.
3. 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?
It has killed a lot of creativity. It is so hard for jocks to be edgy/funny when the risk of losing a job is so great. It has forced radio to be boring at times. You see and hear far worse on TV, but for some reason radio is the bad guy. You never saw Janet Jackson's boobs on the radio. We just said go to our website and you can see them all day.
4. How do you feel terrestrial radio competes with the satellite radio and Internet these days?
I think satellite radio and the Internet have made local radio stronger. We are blessed with all live jocks -- and I really feel local will always win. Especially in Huntsville and other smaller towns, where people still look to radio for local information and as a source of connecting to the community. That will never happen with satellite.
5. What can we be doing with our station websites to better our stations as a whole?
We get tons of activity on our website, but for a Rock station it is all pictures of hot girls. If stations could use the blogging or Facebook/Myspace/Twitter more, it would be to their advantage. People are obsessed with the Facebooks of the world. Go to where the people are if you want to reach them. Hold on ... let me go update my facebook...
6. What's the best concert you've been to so far this year and why?
Pop Evil at Sammy T's in Huntsville. Pop Evil is a band that gets that if you make the radio station look good, the odds of getting your music supported goes up! They took the time to mention the Rocket several times during the show and actually took time to hang out with my jocks and listeners. What a concept -- good ol' customer service! They put on a very energetic old -school, high-energy Rock show!
7. Tell us what music we would find on your car or home CD player (or turntable) right now and what is it you enjoy about that particular selection?
In my car right now I have 3 CDs that I choose to calm down to when I drive home to my wife and two boys -- Eric Clapton "Live on Tour 2001 One More Car One More Rider," Paul Thorn "So Far So Good Live" and Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson "VH1 Story Tellers." All three CDs help get my head right and clear my head to focus on time with my family.
8. Over the years, we've had the "British Invasion," "Disco," "New Wave," "Rap & Hip-Hop," "Boy Bands," and many other genres and sub-genres of music take off. What do you think is the next emerging music trend?
I think Rap-Disco-Boy Bands will be next! If there was a way to predict this, we would have stopped the boy bands. We carry Skratch N Sniff, which is a Mash-up show where Rock and Rap/Hip-Hop mix. The current wave of kids are so eclectic that having the two worlds collide is as cutting edge as when Hershey's mixed peanut butter and chocolate to form the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. If not that, then the band Steel Panther. www.steelpantherrocks.com! WOW!
9. If you are voicetracking shifts or syndicating for stations outside of your market, how do you get familiar with that marketplace/community?
I hate out-of-town voicetracking. There is a guy who tracks for a station in Huntsville and he consistently mispronounces city names; hesays he went to a local bar and he didn't because he is not in this town. I think listeners eventually figure it out. The only way to be local ... is to be local.
10. What is the best advice you would give to young programmers/promotion people?
If you can do anything else, do it! If you can't and you love radio, love to be involved in the community and embrace how dysfunctional you are, then enjoy radio and give it all you have ... but never let it replace your family!
Bonus Questions
What is your favorite TV show?
Dog The Bounty Hunter, CSI Vegas and Nitro Circus
What gets you upset at work and how do you channel your anger?
I work in radio! Don't all sales people respect programming? Are there divas in Radio? I channel my anger through a bottle of 127-proof Kentucky Bourbon called "Bookers" made by Jim Beam! Try it, it works!
You're stuck on a deserted island and you get to pick one artist to be stuck with you. Who would it be and don't limit it to our format?
For Survival: Ted Nugent as long as he brings his bow for hunting and his guitar.
For Romance: Shakira ... hips don't lie
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