Conversations.buzz

This is a master class for radio in all markets. JOHN OSTLUND owns five stations in Fresno, California, because he loves radio. He remembers the recipe. He only runs five minutes of commercials per hour on all five stations and it works. John says, "Radio is too much fun."

At 31, DANIEL STARKS is the youngest radio station General Manager I've ever met. He's also one of the smartest guys I ever met in the business. Makes sense, right? Here he talks about his love of small-market radio and he brings with him serious major market experience.

ROBIN BERTOLUCCI has been Program Director of KFI, Los Angeles, for 22 years and the station has never fallen out of first place. The thing that's remarkable about Robin is she hasn't got a lot of complicated philosophies about her job or her station. She just gets the best people in the news and talk business and lets them do their thing.

STEVE BEHM lives in the Texas Hill Country and has a million friends. He also has bladder cancer, a positive prognosis and a fabulous attitude. Steve makes the world happy wherever he goes.

In 1985 GARY GEROULD, DAVE GROSBY, and I were all in attendance for the birth of the NBA Sacramento Kings. 39 years Later The G-Man has been the only play-by-play radio voice the team has ever had. This episode is a reunion for the three of us as we relive the glorious history of my hometown's still beloved and only major league team. - Dave Williams, Feb. 25, 2024

Is radio dead? Don't suggest that to KJ ALLEN. He and his longtime radio partner BENJI KURTZ have assembled a fleet of stations in small Georgia markets and they are flourishing. Their motto is BETTER LOCAL RADIO. Their company, OCONEE COMMUNICATIONS is doing what radio has always done best: serving their local communities.

DAVE WILLIAMS and AMY CHODROFF were selected individually to co-host the KLIF Morning News in Dallas. Having never met they were thrown together in a small studio to sink or swim. In radio, as in life, forced partnerships don't always work. In this case, it worked wonderfully well for nearly 12 years. They started together and in 2023 retired together. But they're still friends. Here they are, together again. Sequels may follow.

DAVE GROSBY is a true Sports Talk Radio legend but more importantly to me, he's been my special friend for more than 40 years. We covered our personal history and shenanigans in our first episode of June 2022. This time we're just talking sports and radio. He is the Master.

Stage and screen actress Penny Peyser is back with her second edition of Sonnets From Suburbia - The Romance Dance. Since her first book Penny's alter ego, Lady Penelope, has also been tickling funny bones with live performances of her one woman show. You can see them on her YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/c/SonnetsfromSuburbia. And learn more about Penny on her website: https://www.sonnetsfromsuburbia.com/

MARK DAVIS is a man many political liberals don't believe exists: a sincerely compassionate conservative. The dean of Texas radio talk, Mark makes a rational appeal on local and national issues mornings on 660AM The Answer in Dallas, and can be found on Twitter, and in columns in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram and nationally in McClatchy newspapers, Newsweek, Townhall.

BENJAMIN NEUMAN is one of the world's top virus research scientists and a leading authority on Coronaviruses. During the COVID pandemic, Dr. Neuman oversaw the Texas A&M University Global Health Research Complex which identified a variant of the virus whose full significance was unknown at the time. He knows as much about the history of COVID-19 and its continuing development as anyone on Earth.