There are basically two types of radio personalities. Those who think they are there for the listeners, and those who know they are there because of the listeners.
Because of all the deregulation that has happened in the past 10 or so years, there are very few radio stations that are locally owned. I happen to listen to three stations in Akron, Ohio that are owned locally by the Rubber City Radio Group. They are WONE/97.5, WAKR/1590, and WQMX/94.9. Sue Wilson is the program director of WQMX. Sue is also one who connects well with her listeners.
Sue Wilson is a very young veteran of Northeast Ohio radio. I first heard of her when she was program director of WFHM-The Fish in Cleveland. From all I have read about her on the message boards, she seemed to be one of the most respected radio personalities in the area. I had won a prize from The Fish a few years back and had to go to the station to pick it up, which was on my way home from work. I had emailed Sue and asked if I could have a tour of the facilities. Being a radio geek, I like to see that kind of stuff. Sue had asked the receptionist to show me around, which she gladly did.
Sometime later in the future, Sue got to see one of my negative sides. I was being my message board alter ego, 74WIXYgrad. Normally there isn't much of a difference, but I was venting my spleen, just in the wrong place. I took her employer(at that time) to task because they(Salem Communications) could not reach an agreement to continue carrying the Dave Ramsey Show. I locked horns with one of Sue's good friends who proceeded to chew me up and spit me out. Despite all this, Sue didn't regard me as a wacko when we started communicating as bloggers.
Another admirable thing about Sue is that she leads a busy life and still takes time to make the world around her a better place. Currently she is program director at WQMX as well as morning show cohost. Sue is also program director at WVIC/94.1 in Lansing Michigan. Another thing on her plate is she owns Sue Wilson Creative, a voiceover service. You can hear her voice all over the country. All the while she has done this for the past several years as a single parent, having lost her husband, radio personality Phil Cordle, to cancer.
Sue is a great supporter of this blog and has found other blogs through it that she likes to visit on a regular basis. Her blog, Sue Wilson's Voiceover, is a journal of some of Sue's thought on her career and her life. I have found from our communication that she has a very sweet spirit about her and is a "people person."
Go on over and check out Sue's blog. Unlike personalities from other broadcast companies, who are required to write blogs and their writing shows that attitude, the people over at Rubber City actually show some enthusiasm in their blogging. Sue Wilson and her on air partner, Scott Wynn, are two bloggers who take pride in their writing.
Comments
And I have no doubts that she's one of your heroes.
I've been doing OMW for nearly four years now.
Because of what I do, blogging wise, I hear all sorts of off-the-record comments about nearly all Northeast Ohio radio and TV personalities.
It's not always "nice", but you basically get the idea which people rub people the right or wrong way.
There are two major Northeast Ohio media people who always, always get overwhelming positive, off-blog comments when they are in the OMW scroll - and Sue is one of them.
People nearly trip over themselves to say good things about her to me, privately. Behind the scenes. With no motivation other than to share that they've been positively affected by Sue in some manner.
Think about that, readers...you affect people by how you treat them. Sue shows that in the most positive way. And with only the slightest mention, people come out of the woodwork to share how she's been nice to them in some way.
I recently met Sue in person for the first time, and the experience was just as pleasant as her comment right here above this.
In case you're curious about the other person that people go out of their way to compliment as a person, he's WTAM sports director Mike Snyder.
Sue and Mike are both very talented radio people, and their body of work speaks for itself... but their off-air actions also speak for them...and it's inspirational to see that "good people" can be successful in the occasionally "cut throat" world of media.
Next you are correct about Mike Snyder. I have met him at remotes and he was MC at a band show I announced at last fall. Every time I had the pleasure to talk to him, he made me feel welcome.