10 Questions with ... Chelsea Alayne

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I got my start at Mississippi State University at 91.1 WMSV. It was Triple A format radio and I was a loudmouth with no filter. After falling in love with the radio lifestyle, I had to figure out how to make my hobby my job. I got a gig at a local Rock station, 99.9 The Fox, and found my way from weekends to middays fairly quickly. I have had stops in OKC and Memphis, but have found a home here at the beach with Community Broadcasters and Q92.

1) How would you describe the radio landscape in your market?

Great question, we have a very interesting mix of people here on the Emerald Coast. We have locals who range from young millennial professionals to retired, rich and living the good life on 30a. It's ultimately a really cool family beach town but then in the summer it's like overflowing with tourists from all over the world. Also, have you heard of this little thing called SPRING BREAK? Yeah, that lasts a month here and it gets pretty wild.

2) What makes your station unique? How would you compare it to other stations you've worked at?

I like to describe our station and company as "big-market radio in a small town." Now we don't get Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift stopping by, but we always have up-and-coming artists stopping in to say hey and play in our music lounge. Yes, we have an awesome music lounge and our stations are in a brand new building. These are easily the nicest stations I have ever worked in. Most places were falling apart and one place I worked had a family of rats living in the walls ... true story. We like to make the community the star here and it's always fun to have the local high school kids in for a takeover or local bands in for an intimate show. I feel like in bigger markets you lose a lot of the locality so it's awesome to get to focus on doing live and local radio.

3) What are you doing, social media-wise?

What aren't we doing? I am big into social media since it's how we connect with our audience in Top 40. We are seeing a shift in our audience to a generation that is not all about picking up the phone and calling in their fave song. They want to Snap you and use a filter or hit you up on Twitter. If you aren't in with the latest app, then you aren't staying relevant in our profession. I am kind of obsessed with Snapchat and thankfully our audience thinks the weird things I do are funny so we have a nice following. I also blog and do videos - mostly tasting strange foods - and have a podcast. Needless to say ... we stay relevant online.

4) "Local local local" has always been radio's mantra. How do you keep your station visible and involved in the community?

I truly feel like Q92 is the most local station on The Emerald Coast. We are all over in the summer with themes for each day of the week. We have local high schools takeover our station for graduation, and during football season we even go on site to hang out at the games. We have even hired a local DJ to host our nightly mix show. We feature people who are doing good things in our community and I even have local "celebs" help me host the podcast we put out. We also use our music room to feature local bands that wouldn't see radio love in a bigger market. We don't like to do things with the station that don't benefit the community. Really, all of the stations here at Community Broadcasters do a great job with community outreach.

5) What is the most challenging part of the job?

Being a first-time PD definitely came with a whole list of responsibilities that I haven't had in my past jobs. The hardest thing was learning how to think of radio promotions and how they benefit the listener. As a personality, it's easy to be selfish and want to push things that benefit making you sound cooler, but now I have to think ... "What will make the station sound cooler?" I'm definitely getting better every day and I'm now a big-picture kind of thinker, which is super-cool. I have to give a shout-out to my OM, Matt Stone, because he's very in tune with how to run a good radio station and he has been teaching me so much.

6) What's the coolest promotion you've been involved with recently?

I got two. One was Spring Break live on the beach. It was my first year hosting it and we went full-on live! It was so much fun and the audio was even better. I know live radio is daunting, but it was cool to just pull someone up and have them on a break with you not knowing how it would go. Second was a promotion I got to do with 1031 The Blaze. Matt Stone, who also does the afternoon show, did a live broadcast from a local bar for 25 hours straight to raise peanut butter for a local kids charity. It was amazing to see the community come together and help raise over 2,000 jars and over $1,000. I was up there at 7a broadcasting live with him and people just kept showing up saying they heard him talking for hours ... THE POWER OF RADIO!

7) Who is your favorite air personality not on your staff and why do you like them?

I got to show some love here to two shows: Chad and Jill Mornings on 101.9 AMP in Orlando and Dana and Jayson on FM 94.9 in San Diego. Two great morning shows with some hilarious people. I love how open and honest they all are with their lives and how they have a true friendship that translates on air. I have known Chad and Jill since our Memphis days and they have always been kooks who wanted their own show together ... and now they have it and it's amazing. I love how they have embraced the Orlando scene and how they get to do everything from Disney!

I found out about Dana and Jayson through her social media site that (finally) brings together all the bad-ass women of radio (@radiosisterhood) and fell in love with their show through their videos. I was one of those people who followed them from their job hunt to their new gig in my dream radio town of San Diego. They tear me up with their antics and I just love that Dana is a lead in morning radio. As a fellow #bossbabe I respect that 100%!

8) Who would be a "dream guest" to have on your show?

Ed Sheeran or Miley Cyrus. They seem like they would be down to do anything. I love artists who don't take themselves too seriously. I would want to pull some awesome prank with them. Plus, Ed Sheeran is just a ginger dreamboat.

9) What music do you listen to when you're not working?

I have a pretty eclectic iTunes library but I'm on an Alt-Rock kick right now. I also LOVE vinyl records. Two albums I can't stop spinning are Anderson Paak - Malibu and Kaleo - A/B.

10) What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?

Fake it til you make it. Seriously ... you are the only one holding yourself back. If you show confidence in yourself, you can achieve anything. (Promise, I didn't find these under inspirational quotes in Google.)

For someone vacationing in your market, what one thing would you say they "must see?"

30a. People think it's uppity but I promise you it's the prettiest strip of street I have ever been down. Seaside was actually the film location for The Truman Show.