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10 Questions with ... Sam Scholl
May 29, 2017
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Starting at KSPN/Aspen, CO as a part-time, all-purpose radio slave with the good fortune of being constantly promoted and relocated throughout the Colorado mountains with various MD and MD responsibilities ensuing. Triple A stations I'm stoked to have been a part of: KSPN, KFMU/Steamboat Springs, CO, KSMT/Breckenridge, CO, KCUV/Denver and now KLRR/Bend, OR.
1. How did you become interested in radio?
I wasn't. Serendipity, I suppose. I was living in Aspen and the ski season was winding down. I was working in a snowboard shop and needed a job. After a day on the slopes, I ended up drinking beers at Apres with the KSPN GM one afternoon, and he invited me in. Shortly afterward, Craig Koehn was hired as the PD from Colorado Springs. He mentored me and was instrumental in my programming and career growth.
2. How did you end up in Bend, OR from Colorado?
Basically, after being up in the mountains for about 20 years, my wife and I are kindred spirits and just wanted a change. After I left radio, I started doing voiceover full-time, so I could work from anywhere and the kids were young enough that it'd be minimal disruption on them. We knew we wanted a similar place to what we were used to where we could still enjoy the outdoors and a good education, so we just started doing research on places and settled on Bend. OR has so much cool stuff to see and do, we've only just scratched the surface.
3. How did the gig at KLRR come about?
More serendipity. We've been in bend for about three years now. A friend of mine I worked with in Aspen (Don Cheney) had worked in Bend 25 or so years ago. A guy he worked with here (Ron Alvarez) made his way up the ranks and is now the OM at Combined Communications. Ron happened to post something online about KLRR that Don saw, texted me and connected the two of us.
4. What adjustments have you made at the station?
When the interim PD decided to leave and pursue a career in the nonprofit sector, she left a void for mornings as well. Additionally, middays we just sweepered out. Talent-wise, we brought in Dave Scott to do mornings and I'm tracking middays now. Musically, it's just been an ongoing process to create a bit more familiarity without sacrificing the character of the station by filling in the missing holes and weeding out the fluff.
5. How would you describe the music on the station?
Triple A with a younger Alternative feel. We stop at the '90s with a few '80s cuts for spice, some 'rootsy' tunes for texture and about zero Classic Rock.
6. Bend, OR is a growing market. Tell us about that.
People are discovering that this town has a lot to offer. Being pretty new to the area, I personally don't have much historical context, but I think it's been a pretty rapid growth. The population estimate is around 80-85k and it sure doesn't feel like it's slowing down. I'm told we were the 8th fastest growing metro area in the U.S. last year.
7. What is your biggest challenge at the station?
Prioritizing. When I explained to management and ownership when we first started talking that given my ongoing voiceover commitments, I was only available certain hours and on a part-time basis, they said they could work with that, so I'm actually just a 1099 employee based on a limited amount of hours per day/week/month. We all agreed it's a 'working trial' but so far, so good. I'm just getting my feet wet, but everyone's been great, supportive and understanding of the balancing act between my time/needs/limitations and with that of the station's.
8. What do you view as the most important issue facing Triple A radio today?
It's hard to say, but probably walking the fine line to increase cume without imploding TSL, while maintaining relevance with listeners and the community.
9. What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
Be professional, but don't take yourself or anything too seriously. No matter what, $h!t will probably work out.
10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ...
... waking up!
Bonus Questions
Last non-industry job:
Various odd jobs while getting my voiceover biz going.
First record ever purchased:
Kiss Alive
First concert:
Journey
Favorite band of all-time:
Not any one -- it can change daily based on my mood.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time away from work?
We have three kids (10, 8 and 4) and are a super-tight family unit, so anything and everything we can together that's outside in the mountains and conducive to wearing them out.
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