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10 Questions with ... Toby Knapp
January 10, 2006
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NAME:Toby KnappPOSITION:Team Captain and DeeJaySTATION:WNOKMARKET:Columbia, SCOWNER:Clear Channel
Please outline your radio career so far:
1994 - 95: WSBG Stroudsburg; Late Nights/Swing/Trash Man/Van Washer and Driver
1995 - 98: WBHT/Wilkes-Barre; Overnights/AM Producer/Mktg. Director/Kid Kelly's Bitch and maker of Morning HotHead Coffee
1998 - 2001: WLAN/Lancaster; APD/MD/Afternoon Drive/Jordan Walsh's Bitch/Assistant corruptor of Amish Youth and Barn Raising
2001 - 04: WFLZ/Tampa; APD/Afternoons/Co-coordinator of Lunch and Dinner for Jeff Kapugi and Stan Priest
2004 - now: WNOK/Columbia; Afternoon DJ who got voted Team Captain for some ungodly reason To ensure I'm able to properly spoil and pamper my baby, Kyla, I've made or still make cameo appearances at:
KDUK/Eugene (Val Steele's bitch);
KKRZ/Portland (Brian Bridgman's 'oh-my-god-he's-our-last-resort-can-someone-call-TK-please' guy);
KHKS/Dallas and WIOQ/Philadelphia (because I have dirt on Todd Shannon going WAAAAY back);
WPLA/Jacksonville (Bo Matthews had a drunk idea once and Chad Chumley likes the way I mix a Bombay and Tonic);
KHFI/Austin (www.brothafredlikesdonkeys.com) and KISX/Tyler (hey Lucky Larry!)1 What was the best thing to happen to you in 2005?
After inventing the iPOD Nano and selling my idea to STEVE JOBS at Apple, I discovered several new techniques related to human cloning and have been named the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in the and Science of Bullshit.
OH! You wanted me to act like a PD? Right ... On a personal level, the best thing was being a great daddy to my amazing little girl, Kyla. Watching her grow and having her TEACH ME how to be a real man, all the while having a great person in my life - again - who is my partner and best friend, and who holds me to a higher level than I've ever been held before ... and who is my 'someone.'
Professionally ...it's seeing the way the team at WNOK really believed we could be more than we are. We thought 'different' and 'larger than Columbia' and breathed new life into this station - the longest running CHR in the history of the format. We've reached new ratings highs along the way. We're not done by any means, but we're on our way and I like where we're headed!
2 What do you think was THE music story of last year?
Selfishly, the way COLUMBIA (records, not the city) made CROSSFADE/COLD happen. That song had so much passion, and was ALMOST DEAD. But then the magic happened, and the song became an anthem last year on CHR! NOT TO MENTION they're from Columbia, SC and that ED from 'Fade has pictures of Pancho, Brady Bedard and I at a local performance art studio specializing in dance of the exotic kind (and we really didn't want those to be released on myspace).
Also, I'd say the way Mariah came back to re-claim her crown as the reigning diva in Pop music. The voice came back, and that talent came back in a huge way. But she had Erik Olesen's team at IDJMG to champion her cause along the way, and that was the icing on the cake for her this year.
3 What led you to a career in radio?
Let us turn, in our radio bibles, to the Book of Tobias, Chapter 1... "When I was down and out after getting fired by the Chippendales in New York, I followed this light I saw in the Western sky (1). Lo, I heard this voice which spoke unto me in a voice like a lion saying, PUKE BOY ... PUKE ... and YOU WILL BECOME A DEEJAY (2). Then, I awoke in the lobby of the Stroudsburg radio station and had a job doing overnights and setting up promotions and engineering equipment - and it was good and all praise was due to Marconi (3)." -Tobias 1:1-3 (NTKV)
4 How would you describe the radio landscape in Columbia?
It's like free-food day at the Oliver Gospel Mission in downtown Columbia. Everyone has their hand out trying to get some of the pie, but we've secretly stolen it and we're eating it in the back, behind the dumpster while they're all fighting it out wondering where it went (and Pancho just brought back the beer and some two dollar bills so we're gonna be off to Platinum real soon).
5 Using one sentence for each, how would you describe the on-air staff at the station?
Jonathon Rush - A Legend who reinvents himself every morning.
Kelly Nash - It's an honor to have him on this team, and he's already impacted the place in such an amazing way.
Shaun Sawyer - Probably the most technically savvy radio mind in the building who helped me make the 'impossible' into reality in record time ... at all hours of the day and night.
Jana - Sexy and sassy, much like a Louis Vuitton and the perfect pair of shoes to match, but who won't let one walk over her, and who looks beautiful without makeup in the morning.
Me - Proof that sometimes, affirmative action hiring sometimes works out.
Pancho - La 'Migra and El Coyote. RUN! He has all the tools and passion to be one of the best.
6 Who is your favorite air personality not on your staff and why do you like them?
Oh... I couldn't name just one. There are a quite a few. I call them the crazy ones:
Kid Kelly, Kevin and Bean, Klinger, Brotha' Fred, Heather at KXJ/Chattanooga, Alecia at WIOQ, Billy the Kidd, Mack, Kasper, Kane, Jordan, Dana...
All of these jocks have the courage to be original and create their own style of radio without having to steal from some radio bit board of recycled ideas. I believe these are the innovators. They're the ones shamelessly ripped off by less talented liner card readers and - to me at least - they have the spirit that makes terrestrial radio great. As long as we cultivate TALENT, our medium will survive against Satcasting, Podcasting and whatever-casting-may-come-next.
7 What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
There are three truths in radio:
"Button one, Button two... make sure there's no silence in between" - Kid Kelly
"Don't tuck her in..." - Jeff Kapugi
"Never underestimate the power of the HOOTERS vip card" - Stan "the Man" Priest8 Please describe the best or worst promotion you've ever been part of?
The best promotion of my life was the day Kyla, my daughter was born. The entire thing was live on the air. Going on the air in Tampa, after 24 hours with almost no sleep (she was born in the middle of the night), and telling the world I was a daddy was a moment which I will probably never - ever be able to match ever again.
9 What is the current state of the radio 'talent pool' ... slim pickings or a smorgasbord of talent? Please feel free to elaborate.
Someone call Jeff Kapugi and Todd Shannon - I bet they can point you in the right direction when you're ready to start looking for new talent. You've just got to look a bit harder. You've got to go looking in the fields to find it. Look for the TALENT who are getting hauled into PD's offices, facing suspension, for doing something compelling instead of just reading a liner. Somewhere, on the frontier between chaos and order, between brilliant and insane, is where you'll find them. And ya know what? If you're a smart programmer - or want to embrace the nearly-lost art of CHR-personality radio, you know where to look ... and you'll find it. And you'll win if you use it.
God, that sounded very Zen-Like. May the force be with us.
10 Which programming feature has worn out its welcome at the format and why?
Anything that Kane or Tik Tak first did at night ages ago, which is still being copied and done badly across the country today -- because it's already been done. Is there no one left in our game, who is willing to try and re-invent the wheel?
Bonus Questions
What station from Top 40's past would you like to have programmed?
Pirate Radio or the Power Pig. If you don't know why, I won't bother trying to explain. But if you google it, you might find out, and it might just unleash some radio passion in you!
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