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| In the spotlight.... |
 Ron & Karen FM100 Memphis http://www.fm100memphis.com/pages/364870.php Interviewed by Steve Harmon
Over the next few months we will re-visit some of
our Bitboard Shows and get updates on the cast and their lives.. One of
the great things about Bitboard has been the chance to exchange ideas
with great air-talent who have stayed strong in their market for long
periods of time.. like Ron and Karen in Memphis at FM100
Harmon:
Refresh us on how you found each other and came together on air..
Ron:
Karen
and I got together almost 15years ago. She was working in promotions and
seemed like a fairly normal person and she wanted to be on the air. We
were looking for an additional person to add some new twists to the
show. So Karen joined me and Steve Conley together for the next 14
years! amazing
Harmon: Describe the show and cast here in 2008..
Ron:
The
cast today is Ron Olson, Karen Perrin and Kevin Drummond (Brett,
Wonder Pony, Razorback). Kevin runs the board and edits the show like
nobody else. He is the best I've ever been around. He gets its. He
understands flow and really does laugh naturally at some of the stuff
that goes down. We have Marla that does traffic and reacts with a lot
of our junk. Karen did news at one time but we dropped it last year.
At first I didn't get the dropping of the news idea, but I've grown to
love it now. It gives us more room to have fun and still play lots of
songs. of course we talk about all the big news stories of the day.
The cast is great. Karen is like my best friend, when she is gone its
not the same. we kind of fight thru all the adversities together. Ron Memphis is my hometown> I grew up here and started at WMC FM100 in 1974 when I was a junior in college at Memphis State. I left in 1979 to program WHRK and do afternoons thru 1983. WHRK was the first urban fm in the market. It was bigger than big. Gigantic urban mammer jammer. Four really amazing years where I learned a lot about radio and life in the real world . I started back at FM100 in 1983 with Terry McKeever and haven't looked back. That's a lot of time in one market for anybody. I know every inch and every player in the city. Sometimes I wonder "what if"...What if I'd gone to Dallas or what if I'd taken the Warner Brothers gig or What if ? You could play that game all day. I married a girl from here. All my family lives here. I even have two burial plots here ready to go. Its a great city with lots of heritage and some pretty good basketball not to mention the Bar B Q.
Ron:
We get to work at 5am and go on the air at 5:30 Monday thru Friday and
we do a best of show for Saturday from 7am-10am. Show prep has really
changed over the years. We use Bitboard and Audioclipboard every day
(when I can remember to report)
Ron: Budgets
are tight. We wish there was more cash to promote us. We wish there was
more TV. More billboards. All of that . But it ain't there. So quit
worrying about things you can do nothing about and make the best of what
you got. Take advantage of every chance to be on TV or in front of a
crowd of ten thousand. Be there. Be everywhere. It's your gig. You can't
wait on the station. Go get it.. Ron: A few years ago Officer Don Overton was killed in the line of duty. So our morning show spearheaded an effort to rally the community to help this policeman and his wife that was nine months pregnant. It was a ground roots operation. What do we do? How do we do it? We just jumped in the next day with one fellow officer on the air with us and no game plan. We called it ""28 hours for Officer Overton". It was pure magic, everyone helped...police and fire guys and gals...the TV station went live around the clock with coverage...salespeople got involved. We started with one former police partner that talked real slow and methodical and ended up 28 hours later presenting a check for $300,000 plus to his widow and family on the air. We did it four more times over the course of the next five years. That's how people remember you. It didn't cost us a thing.
Ron: You know it's been a good show when the time flies and your are mentally exhausted in a weird way. Like it takes a half hour to decompress Harmon:
Ron:
Ron: Secret to success: Stay on top of it. Stop bitching about programming. Love on your salespeople. Have low expectations. I remember when I was 20 years old, I use to think that if I made $12,000 bucks a year that would be about all I needed. I have been happy ever since.
previous spotlight shows:
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