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Tuesday, February 09, 2010

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Up Close: WAPL & WZOR/Appleton PD Joe Calgaro

Joe Calgaro has been at WAPL for the past 10 years, also taking on the PD role for sister station WZOR. It’s been a successful ride that recently saw WAPL pulling in a Marconi Award for Rock Station of the Year as it is in the midst of celebrating its 30^th year in existence. FMQB recently caught up with Calgaro for a conversation about WAPL as he was still basking in the glow of Marconi glory.

eQB presents excerpts from the November FMQB magazine Rock Up Close with WAPL & WZOR/Appleton PD Joe Calgaro

On winning this year's Marconi for Rock Station of the Year at the NAB… One of the things about an award like this is you hear from the customers, whether that be our listeners or clients, we hear about the great job that they think we have done. So when we get this type of recognition and validation from our industry peers – and everybody looks at a Marconi as the brass ring in the radio world as far as awards go – it’s something that people around here have viewed as very special.

On what has made WAPL strong for 30 years running… The culture of our company is one of our biggest strengths. We’re employee owned, which sets us apart from a lot of the other big radio companies out there. It gives everybody an investment in our success that works here. One of the things we do well is we take the time to allow our people to develop and grow. The fact that we allow people to try, even if they don’t always succeed, creates a creative atmosphere and ultimately makes us stronger.

On actually celebrating the station’s 30^th anniversary on-air rather than ignoring it… Every time I read an interview with programmers whose stations are hitting those big milestones, they always talk about how listeners don’t care and they don’t want the station to sound old. Our listeners feel as much a part of the radio station as much as we do, so when we’re celebrating something they get to celebrate it as well. That’s why we chose to embrace the 30^th Anniversary the way we have.

On WAPL’s morning show having over 20 years of heritage in the market… It’s amazing, because if you know Rick and Len, you’re not going to find two people with less in common than these two guys. And they’d be the first to admit that outside of work they wouldn’t run in exactly the same circles, but they anchor the station. They do an amazing job and that comes from being here for so long. Between the two of them, it seems like they’ve met everybody in town. Everybody I run into has a Rick and Len story of some sort to tell, and that’s a great testament to what kind of impact they’ve had here in the community.

On maneuvering the competitive landscape… Anybody can put music on. It’s everything else that we do that sets us apart. One of the things that we’ve always done well is we don’t foist ourselves into other people’s definitions of what we should be as a Rock station. We’re a Rock station, and to us that can mean different things at different times. We’ve had a million stations over the years come at us as the heritage big dog from every direction. But at the end of the day we make our decisions based on what our audience wants from us. We worry about our specific situation and our audience, and that’s what’s kept us so successful over the long haul.

Thoughts on Brett Favre in a Jest uniform… You know, it’s good for Brett. It took him back to the basics, which was probably very challenging for him. It’s obviously good for Aaron Rodgers. You make decisions with long term success in mind, and that’s how you build successful franchises whether you’re talking about football or radio.

** QB Content by Michael Parrish **

Also in the November Issue:

Up Close With WNOR/Norfolk APD/MD Sonja Morrell

WNOR/Norfolk APD/MD Sonja Morrell got her start in radio at Boston’s WERS, the Emerson College station. She was a Public Relations major and actually went to the station to do PR, but once she earned an on-air position, she caught the radio bug and never looked back. After college she pulled some shifts at Boston’s non-commercial WUMB and Triple A WBOS, but in the spring of 1996, she accepted a job at heritage Rock station WNOR “FM99,” and has been there ever since. After spending the summer on maternity leave, Morrell is now back in the studio so we figured it was time to catch up.