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10 Questions with ... Alexa Smith
December 6, 2016
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Radio Lady with a mic a dollar and a dream. Started from the bottom now I'm where? In Phoenix. Started in Sacramento as intern at KSFM and its sister stations, been a production/imaging director, on-air personality, research director and then I got really good at collecting letters in the game: MD, APD, PD, OM and the like. I also have been known to do voice-tracking (Jammin' 107.5, WXIS Jammin 92.3) and voiceover work for a station or two including WGUN and WPGC.
1. What got you into radio?
I had always loved music and entertainment, had many heroes on the radio over the years, but it wasn't until I decided to intern for as many different outlets as possible that I found it was home. I started with television, then newsprint, when I got my radio internship I knew it was the keeper with integration of music and theater of the mind. I was that kid with the radio glued to contests and DJs (in a non-stalkery type of way) especially KFRC and KMEL and when it dawned on me that I could do what I loved hearing, it was a wrap.
2. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Mission one was to take my living room singing show out on the road but being a real Donna Summers isn't as easy as it looks. As a kid, I always excelled at English so I always assumed I would become a writer or a journalist. So, when blogs blew-up as part of the daily job I was one of the few who didn't groan at the added duties. Give me a way to talk to people and I'm reaching out.
3. Much of your career has been spent in California and most recently in Phoenix. Other parts of the country interest you personally and professionally?
New York is an amazing city that I love to visit and wouldn't be shy about working in. But as you've stated, I have been mostly left coast and that's because it has always afforded me opportunities that made the most sense. Once, I was up for something up that I really wanted to go to in Tampa, but I had just taken a gig in California and the timing wasn't right. There is so much of the radio world that has been unexplored for me, regionally and so I only know snow in the vacationing sense. Snow rarely stuck in Portland, and my Cali counterparts were more scared of it than I was.
4. You're resume includes just about every airshift and programming position possible. What would you say are some of your career highlights?
Some of the highlights include stops at Z90 (XHTZ), Jammin' 95.5 (KXJM) , Movin' 99.7 (KMVQ), 94-7 The Wave (KTWV). Most of my time is spent in front of the mic AND behind the scenes which affords me the unique opportunity to stay in touch with the listeners first-hand. My radio journey has taken me from production, morning show co-host, all the way up to the titles of PD and OM. It's been a strange and wild ride but I wouldn't change a thing. I got my start at KSFM as an intern for local celebrity Mark S. Allen, I never looked back-the radio bug bites and you never get rid of the fever. This same bug has made me hungry to do and learn all I can so that I'm a well-balanced and informed team player with more than one thing on my tool belt.
5. What would probably surprise most people about Phoenix?
For a hot desert town, Phoenix is really cool! I finally understand what a dry heat is, 100 in California or 100 in Arizona-drastically different. Nothing like those states with humidity that is no joke. But there is always something to do here, a wonderful place for the casual diner or a foodie, and the downtown is really popping. It's not as "country" or tumbleweed as one would expect. I have yet to find a "hood" here. There are neighborhoods, but nothing like where I'm from. People don't tend to think of us as a sport city but we get not only Spring Training, ASU, Suns, Diamondbacks, Coyotes, Mercury. Never a dull moment for a ticket holder. Also, concerts are not afraid of this town, 2016 was a record year for Phoenix.
6. What's your favorite song on the station right now?
The majority of both libraries I oversee are both largely gold-based so I would have to say 24K Magic by Bruno Mars and am trying to see if Caroline by Anime would make sense for The Beat since I've been banging it privately for months now.
7. If you weren't in radio, what do you think you'd be doing professionally?
I believe that I would be an excellent cat-herder since that's basically what I do all day between both stations. I can't call it, I have a lot of ideas in my head I would like to explore though, we shall see what 2017 brings in the land of the side-hustle.
8. Who have been some of your radio mentors?
Mark S. Allen and Krazy J Nelson for on-air , Dr. Dave Ferguson and Saint John for imaging and production, Mark Adams and Rick Thomas for programming and Deborah Howell for voiceover. All have all been instrumental in making me the radio dweeb I am today.
9. As a radio veteran, what advice would you want to share with a radio "newbie"?
It's not going to happen overnight dear interns. Just because you show up doesn't mean that you will get a morning show next week or next month or even several years in. Radio is a skill that takes honing and very few of us got into it for the money as there is much more fame than fortune; especially in the beginning. But the hungry mouth gets fed, so if you aren't afraid of long hours or even sleeping at the station occasionally...this might be the gig for you.
10. What do you think is your biggest asset you bring to the station?
I have yet to find something I can't do. Not to be too braggadocios, but I love to learn, I love a challenge and I love digging my heels in to be part of a team that likes to win.
Bonus Questions
If you had to eat one type of meal everyday for a month, what would it be?
I'm from Califas so Mexican all day everyday is cool, can we start with posole?
If you could be on any TV reality show or game show, which would you want to be on?
NOT Survivor, I cannot miss a meal. I would pass out. I would love to be on Whose Line Is It Anyway? I love Wayne Brady and Aisha Tyler plus I've always wanted to do real improv. Playing out scenarios with a bunch of crazies is what we do on radio anyway, it would be more fun if the camera was rolling with a live audience as well. I haven't done any theater since high school, so it would be a treat to dust off those skills. I need a reason to do all those silly warm-up exercises I learned.
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