www.wkktfm.com
 

Interviewed by Steve Harmon

Harmon:  WKKT Morning Show producer Geof Knight has been a part of Bitboard since .. Bananacom? I think he would write in longhand and mail it to Kidd. I thought it was time to catch up with the team in Charlotte N.C.

Paul Schadt ...  been waking up Charlotte since 1980, worked at WSOC from 1980-1997, and 1997 to current at WKKT...also the co-host of Racing Country, a syndicated NASCAR show that airs on roughly 300 stations weekly

Geof Knight has been producing in Charlotte since 1993 where he started with The Chuck Boozer Show on WTDR .... from 1995-1997 he produced the Johnson & Johnson Show (now in Salt Lake) on WTDR....he spent the last part of 1997 at WSOC with Paul's show and came over to WKKT with Paul in '97 and is still currently the Morning Producer for the Paul Schadt Show on WKKT ... he has produced the syndicated Racing Country show since March of 2000
 
Meg Butterly joined the show Labor Day of 2009, and came to to the show from the J.D.'s show on WIRK in West Palm Beach ..... She got her start in Detroit and Pittsburgh with Welch & Woody, back in 1999.

Harmon:  What's your biggest challenge?

Paul:  Staying on our toes on a daily basis. Charlotte is one of the few remaining markets that has a competitive country battle. Many other markets have both country stations owned by the same company here we like the battles!

Geof:  Staying as fresh as possible.

Meg:  I would have to agree with Geof, keeping up, and I am in charge of our website too, so I always want a jump on the competition with the latest breaking news!  

Harmon:  Cool things about your market?

Paul:  We've got pro football, pro basketball, a top tier PGA tourney, and the majority of all the NASCAR teams call Charlotte home and operate in and around town. Plus we are an hour from some beautiful mountains with great winter skiing, and only a couple of hours away from the beach....there are several great shows that are syndicated out of Charlotte Bob & Sherry, John Boy & Billy, Ace & TJ, and our NASCAR show .

Meg:  I was in complete awe when I got here. Honestly coming from Palm Beach I wasn’t sure how this was going to be, but I am amazed. NASCAR (I am learning to love it) oh, and did I mention there are no hurricanes here? Well… not like I have seen anyway!

Geof:  Mountains, Beach (a few hours away), Football, , and I get to see the seasons without them being too extreme… 

Harmon:  Was there a radio star you loved growing up listening to?

Geof:  lotta great Washington DC radio when I was a kid, then lived in Lynchburg, Va as a high schooler in the 80's, and I always thought K92 out of Roanoke was the best station in the world!

Meg:  Growing up in Detroit There was amazing radio… Drew and Mike for Rock and Roll, Dick Purtan was the “safe” family choice… he was an incredible legend, and I was sooooo sad to see him retire.

Harmon:  What time do you get into the studio?

Geof:  After a stop at the paper plant to pick up the newspapers (man aren't THEY a great site first thing in the morning!) I usually roll in between 3:45-4:15....depends on if I was too lazy to get gas the night before!

Meg:  THIS has been a change for me because for the last 5 years we were in about an hour before show time, but now we swap e-mail the night before about the show for the next day, and Paul and I will get in about 4:45 or so… ahhhhh!

Harmon:  Great idea, sharing your day with an e-mail or text to the host.  How much prep happens before you even leave the house?

Geof:  I check all our sources before I leave, just to make sure there's nothing new that we didn't already know the night before. Paul, Meg & I exchange emails the night before each show and share what we've found, seen heard, etc since the last show that might work the next day. Plus if there is a BIG star or Country star on one of the late night shows I will pull audio from that prior to leaving the house to GUARANTEE we have something sometimes the prep sites don't always get the clip YOU want. <True, if you have audioclipbpard just e-mail Dawn in New York and she will try and get what you need exactly...we have no producer and that is so much help! Harmon>

Meg:  I usually initiate the email chain the night before with Hollywood stuff, Paul chimes in with local and some other Hollywood stuff too, and Geof wraps it up, and pulls the audio we will probably want for the next day.

Harmon:  How are you using Facebook?

Geof:  all the social media sites have become a big part of what we do....it's a great way let your fans know what's coming up and what's going on....and sometimes you can probe great topics by asking questions on F-book to test the waters prior to taking it on the air....as a matter of fact the station is doing a NCAA bracket style "vote for the cutest country star" kinda thing right now, and the fans clubs of the artists found out about it on Facebook and our web numbers have more than tripled on a daily basis since we started blogging about it.

Meg:  EVERYDAY! Because part of my responsibility are the web hits, I am constantly using Twitter, our     Facebook page, and ANYTHING else that will work to get our site noticed… I think the key is moderation, if you are TOO in their face with constant Tweets and FB updates you can actually alienate the listener, so  I make it count.  I also find time to respond to the listeners so they know we are not just pimping this thing out.

Harmon:  Has your prep changed over the years?

Geof:  Wow....dramatically so yes. TV uses pictures to tell the story, we use SOUND...the more the better, plus in our "Web-world" we dedicate time to finding content and VIDEO for our webpage.  I have noticed that Philip's Daily Dose on Bitboard has added videos - that is excellent! <Thank ya, thank ya.  You guys make sure you check Daily Dose for all your Entertainment news and gossip late at night or early in the morning ... it's pretty much up to the minute. - Philip>

Meg:  YES,  also finding that “special” web site that will have stuff the competition won’t have til later, or when they scoop it off your page.     

Harmon:  What amount of show time on stunts in 2010

Geof:  Very little, but when it is, we make it count: Paul's had his mustache since 1980.....he let Kellie Pickler shave it off live at a benefit concert recently if we hit our goal...we did...she did.....and the tv stations covered it like it was a Tiger Woods sighting

Meg:  Working with JD we did plenty of stunts, and so this has been a bit of a switch for me too, but it is interesting because when we are out, the amount of folks that show up is amazing!

Harmon:  Parts of the job you love,  parts you hate.

Geof:  LOVE it when things are going good on the air....the feeling is great...love working with people who are chipper in the morning.....HATE.....my alarm clock...been going off at 2:45 every Monday thru Friday since 1993, but you guys all know that ..... LOVE being done by noon, and napping by 1, unless I have a tee time!...HATE slow songs at 5:45 in the morning, or anytime during drive time for that matter....I still haven't found a person who loves to wake up to "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning"...

Meg:  Love it when you are laughing so hard you can’t breathe, and the listener that calls up to tell you they are laughing just as hard… but they can’t because they are laughing too hard… Love LOVE working with people who LOVE to be here… it makes all the difference… it is contagious. HATE… my alarm… when I finally do retire (wait, what does that word mean), I have a sledge hammer for it… and for the SLOW, knife in the heart songs at 5:45 or even 7:45 in the morning… There are definitely more parts to love than hate.

Harmon:  Any Changes for ppm?

Geof:   nothing too serious...thanks to great management, we feel like we've been pretty prepared for awhile now.....more conscious of length of content, we've done some studying of the other major markets and what they've seen so far, and have had some conversations with some Bitboard friends who have already been through it, they've been a big help as well

Meg:  Agreed Geof! With the management we have it should be a smooth transition. Yes, we will have to make some changes, but having the time to prepare we have figured out how to still have a “show” per say while keeping things shorter in each break.

Harmon:  The best BitBoard bit we ever tried was....."

Geof:  Car horn psychic....I'm not saying it's the best bit I've ever SEEN on the board, but as far as reaction goes....we changed it to Dog Psychic ..... Paul could guess your dog by hearing the bark ..... we can go MONTHS without doing it, and people will STILL bring it up (it's all about recall right?....oh wait ppm world, never mind)

Harmon:  Changes or tweaks for Bitboard you might like?

Geof:  I would not change a thing......has been the best service I've ever been a part of....I've been contributing since 1993 and have always found great show ideas, made some solid contacts, and met some great friends over the years...

Meg:  The only thing I might say is that sometimes the information for interviews that people have done are past the time window to get in… keeping it current, and maybe even “breaking” would make it that much more… I have made some amazing friends over the years, and feel like you work with some of the best creative minds with some of the stuff that comes about.  What would a day be without a little Harmonious GaGa??