Page 50 - Radio_Ink

The KRTY staff with Carly Pearce and Devin Dawson (l-r): Carly Pearce, Julie Stevens, GM Nate
Deaton, morning show host Gary Thomas, VP/Sales Tina Ferguson, Devin Dawson, Promotion
Director Jamie Pauhl, and Marketing Manager Jenna Johnson

JULIE STEVENS
KRTY/San Jose
Empire Broadcasting
jstevens@empirebroadcasting.com
Years in Radio: 38

Why is Julie Stevens ranked among the best year after year? She says, “I
think I’m consistently one of the top PDs because it’s quite an accom-
plishment that this 800-watt locally owned and operated radio station
has chased all other Country radio stations out of the market because
they simply couldn’t compete with us.”
Stevens’ advice for up-and-coming programmers: “You have got to be
out there discovering the ‘next big thing’ every day. If you aren’t listen-
Kip Moore and David Corey ing to everything country, you will be behind the 8-ball and will be on
your way to rendering your radio station completely irrelevant because
they can get what you’re offering in so many other places. You have
DAVID COREY to be first. Being ‘familiar’ with what you play is simply not the most
WKLB/Boston important thing anymore.”
Beasley Media Group
She adds, “If I could change one thing about radio today, it would be
david.corey@bbgi.com
to send the stations back to local owners and local programmers. The
Years in Radio: 33
conglomerates have killed the industry.”
David Corey has big shoes to fill, having replaced Mike Brophey at Boston
Country powerhouse WKLB after Brophey retired last year. And while
Corey is new to WKLB, and new to this list, he’s been in radio for more
than three decades, having started his career as an intern in Boston. He
also spent 10 years working for Bell Media in Canada.
Corey says he owes his years of success to his love of music, and of
radio. “I program radio stations with those two things in mind most. How
would the average listener feel while listening to my station? When I think
the answer is the one I want, then I know I’m doing my job. I also recog-
nize how important it is to find (or grow) the best talent to present the
music to the audience the right way. After that, everything else should
fall into place.”
On coaching talent, he says, “I feel my job is to coach and empower
them to be the best they can be. From an on-air perspective, that some-
times may mean to ask them to do a bit less than a bit more, because it
is all about balance. If the balance of talk/commercials/music is off even
just a little, that could be disastrous. I also believe that any team must
overcommunicate to ensure that everyone is always on the same page.
We are doing that here, and it seems to be helping.”

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