10 Questions with ... Paul Kelly

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I have the fairly unique situation of working my entire 25-year radio career in the same market. I started as an intern at WAYV here in Atlantic City back in 1994 and worked my way up through the ranks and became PD in 1999. I programmed WAYV for 10 years and also added PD stripes for Urban AC WTTH before moving on to a radio ownership opportunity that flamed out in 2010. I was actually out of terrestrial radio for a year before I got the call from Longport Media Pres. Dave Coskey to come and program my current group of stations.

1) In addition to running a group of stations, you're involved in all kinds of other stuff. Run down your other duties.

In addition to my primary gig here programming our Longport Media stations, I have a second career in the fantasy sports industry (yes, that's a thing). I host SiriusXM Fantasy Football on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio four days a week. My partner John Hansen and I handle morning drive, which allows us to have lots of fun and a real sense of "show' in addition to breaking down and analyzing all things fantasy football. I provide fantasy football content as a staff writer/podcast host for Hansen's website FantasyGuru.com as well. I also work as the Lead Research Producer for DirecTV's Fantasy Zone Channel, where we deliver fantasy football insight and analysis over live NFL game action every Sunday during the season. I've also recently added Media Director duties for the Atlantic City Football Club, the brand new semi-pro soccer team kicking off here in the market this spring. I don't sleep much.

2) You've been in the Atlantic City market for a long time. How has the market - and the radio landscape there - changed over time?

This has always been a very crowded and competitive market flooded with local signals as well as the Philly stations bleeding in, and that hasn't changed. I'd say probably the biggest change in recent years was the closing of a handful of casinos a few years ago when times got tough. Those closings took a lot of jobs, a lot of revenue and a lot of radio dollars out of the market, but 2018 is looking like a year of growth for the city and the market as a whole with the openings of the new Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (formerly Trump Taj Mahal) and the Ocean Resort Casino (formerly Revel), the opening of Stockton University's Atlantic City campus and the addition of Atlantic City FC, the first sports team the city can truly call their own in many years.

3) Run down the roster of stations that you're responsible for.

We've got four formats in the building. AC 102.7 is our Top 40 with a stick right in the heart of Atlantic City. We're up against a monster in WAYV that I helped build in the '90s and '00s, and they're still very successful, but we're earlier on new music and lean more Rhythmic than they do, so we have our own audience that we cater to. We carry Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, the Zach Sang show at night and we're very music-intensive all day. Obviously Elvis is the best in the biz, but for those who aren't hip to Zach Sang yet, you need to be because he is truly one of the rising stars in our industry.

WMGM is our big 50,000-watt flame throwin' Rock station. We flipped it to Active Rock from Classic Rock back in 2011 when I came in and we're proud to be the only outlet in the market for new Rock music. There's no Alternative station to compete with, so we have plenty of room to incorporate bands like Muse and The Killers into the mix, along with all the biggest Active songs. We try to take as much room as the market will give us, so as we say on the air, "If it rocks, we play it!"

Kool 98.3 plays South Jersey's Greatest Hits! The Classic Hits format is based in '80s music right now and Kool 98.3 reflects that with all the biggest hits mixed in with some iconic '70s staples. As time marches on, we have begun to test the waters with some '90s titles as well. Amazingly, we're getting to the point where currents I played as a jock on WAYV are going to be "Classic Hits." I think I just found the answer to the question, "How do you know you're getting old?"

News/Talk WOND-A has been the market's News/Talk leader for decades. We're all about being live and local and we live it every day with live, local personalities on the air from 6a to 10p all week long. That's been the vision of our company Pres. Dave Coskey since day one. If news is breaking in South Jersey, our hosts are talking about it. We've found that to be a much greater service to the market than airing the usual syndicated talk programming that's available at many other locations on the dial.

4) With all that you have going on, what are your time management tips?

First, hire great people who know what they're doing. When I first assembled my team here, I did so with an eye towards experience and getting people that I knew I'd be able to trust. There's no better feeling than delegating something to someone on the staff and knowing it's going to get done right. Second, you've got to be able to prioritize. Everything we need to do has a deadline. I always try to get my work done in the order that it's due. People have a tendency to work on the things that they'd most like to do first, but for me it's important to work on the things I have to do first.

5) What led you to a career in radio?

Casey Kasem. He's the reason I fell in love with radio as a kid. I remember listening to American Top 40 every weekend on my local station and really feeling like I had a vested interest in where my favorite songs were charting. In the early '80s, his show aired on Sunday mornings while my family and I were in church. I'd always be pestering my parents to hurry up and leave after the service so I could get back in the car to hear the end of the countdown but they'd want to hang around for coffee hour. Eventually, they just started giving me the car keys so I could sit in the car and listen to the radio while they did their thing. I have always carried American Top 40 on one of my stations throughout my entire career. Like many reading this, I played pretend radio station in my bedroom, talking up intros and doing news reports into a tape recorder. I actually sent one of those tapes to Z100 (I don't know why I thought they would hire a 12-year old kid) and amazingly, Z's GM at the time, Gary Fisher, would become the guy who gave me my first PD gig 15 years later. As I got into my late teens, I didn't really consider radio to be a viable career choice until I went away to college and my friend John Sollog invited me to sit in on his college radio show one day. He was having so much fun picking out songs he wanted to play and communicating with his audience that it got me thinking about how great it would be to be able to do that for a living. John eventually turned his show over to me and I owe him a debt of gratitude for getting me on the air for the first time.

6) How would you describe your first radio gig?

In a word, fun. And radio should be fun, or else you're not doing it right. Marc Hunter (currently at Coastal Broadcasting) and Jay Towers (currently at iHeart) were PD and MD, respectively when I was hired at WAYV back in 1994. Those guys are both lots of fun and very creative. The station, at that time, was always doing fun promotions, features and live events. Those of us who were at that station at that time still get together once a year for an annual reunion dinner and there always lots of laughs reminiscing about the things we did. As a young guy just breaking in, I made sure I was always around and always available to help out with anything. In a lot of ways, the number one ability someone needs to have to break in to this business is availability.

7) What are you doing social media-wise?

We use social media primarily to drive people back to the on-air product. Social media is a great way to interact with our audience but we don't lose sight of the fact that our bread is buttered by having these folks listen to the station. Our stations are on all the key social media platforms.

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

We think local begins with the on-air product and the stations of Longport Media produce more hours of live, local programming and feature more live, local personalities than any other group in the market. We also think it's important to give back and do what we can to foster positive change in the community. We do a company-wide annual food and fundraising drive to benefit the Community Food Bank of New Jersey's Southern Branch. We've been amazed at the level of contributions we've gotten not only from the casinos and area businesses but from local listeners as well. It's a community-wide effort that's resulted in Kellogg's sending entire truckloads of cereal to the drive, national recording artists performing live at the drive and thousands upon thousands of people in need right here in our area getting the help they need.

9) Do you have a favorite hobby outside of radio?

Fantasy football. Well, it used to be a hobby ... now it's a second career. It's amazing to think that I get paid to talk about fantasy football on the radio. I used to spend hours and hours every week studying fantasy football, researching statistics and watching games just for fun. Now I get paid to do it. My two biggest passions growing up were radio and football and now I make a living working in both. I'm a lucky guy.

10) What is it about our industry that keeps you wanting to do it for a living?

I love the idea of radio being a shared experience. It's amazing to think that when you're listening to a song on the radio, there are thousands of others listening right along with you experiencing it at the same time. I love curating a playlist and trying to put together the perfect hour of music that will keep people tuned in and having that shared experience with me. I've programmed Top 40, Hot AC, Urban AC, Classic Hits, Classic Rock, Active Rock and Alternative and the challenge is always the same - trying to put together compelling radio that will keep people tuned in for that shared experience.

What ringtone do you have on your cell?

I change it all the time, but right now it's "I'm Alright" by Kenny Loggins. I'm a Caddyshack guy.