October 1990 - October 1991

KDXY was the epitome of what a small town radio station should be. Even though it was only a 3,000-watt station in a town of about 20,000 people, it was in most ways run as professionally as any radio station I've worked for since. While the call letters spelled out K-Dixie, the station hadn't been known as that in years. Through many ownership changes it had evolved into an AC station then known as K-105.

The studios and transmitter were located on a picturesque hilltop, alongside Highway 49 outside of Paragould. I liked the building, which had housed the station since hitting the air as KHIG in October 1971. The large control room was in the center of the building, with windows looking into surrounding rooms and one toward the highway. K-105 had surprisingly professional equipment and a 24-hour staff of very talented jocks. It was also very involved in the community. Morning show host Trey Stafford was co-owner and had an outgoing personality that seemed to extend from the radio station into the town. I was also impressed with how carefully researched and programmed the music was, with this being the first station to give me a computer generated log listing what songs to play.

I was hired in October 1990, two months after starting college in nearby Jonesboro at Arkansas State University. Initially I did the Saturday morning overnight shift, but quickly worked my way into doing weekend evenings. Sunday evenings were especially enjoyable because K-105 did what they called Super Gold Sunday every weekend, playing nothing but oldies. This was nice because the music was a little more fun than the strict AC format of Lionel Richie, Celine Dion and Barry Manalow.

K-105 was also the first station to make regular air checks of my show, with Program Director Ron Roe going over the tapes and writing suggestions. The management really worked hard to make sure the staff presented a consistent image to listeners.

MP3 AUDIO: A complete AIR SHIFT of mine (scoped) at K-105, July 30, 1991, 6 pm to Midnight. It's embarassingly bad! Includes sweepers, promos and parts of some commercials to give the overall feel of this radio station in Paragould, Arkansas. MP3 runs 21:34 (8.64 mb).

By the summer of 1991 I was offered the full-time evening position, which also included doing a little bit more commercial production. I enjoyed the position, but unfortunately it didn't last. About that time the FCC had approved an upgrade in power to 25,000 watts, which would allow the station to become part of the nearby Jonesboro radio market and greatly expand its listener and advertising potential.

Because of the expense of making the upgrade, the station decided to use satellite automation from 8 pm to 5 am to save money. That meant my six-hour shift was suddenly cut back to a two-hour shift, after which I would have to record an automation reel with all the local breaks that would run during the night. I quickly grew to hate recording the nightly reel because I would spend about two hours hearing every one of the commercials over and over and putting in my own local weather forecasts. I also went from being full-time back to part-time, which I resented. I started looking around for other work and got a quick response from a powerful CHR station in Jonesboro called Power 102.

I felt bad leaving K-105 because the staff really was in many ways like a family and had, for the most part, been very good to me. One of the last things I did was to participate in station events marking its 20th anniversary. I felt kind of funny doing all these public appearances and talking so lovingly about the station after having already put in my two weeks notice.

Eventually KDXY made its upgrade and became more of a regional station. It's now known as The Fox, 104.9, has changed its format to country and is typically number one in the ratings. The last time I checked its web site, Trey Stafford was still doing the morning show. Also, they hired Christie Mathews, who I had worked with at Power 102. I'm glad to see the station is doing well and that several people I worked with are still there.