The Infinite Dial

Title: Program Director KMXB/KKJJ, Las Vegas

Who is Justin? "Just like a lot of people in the industry, I started in radio at a young age. When I was 14 years old and in 8th grade in 1994, I began volunteering at a Christian radio station on the campus of the school I attended. The first time I broke the mic, I was hooked on radio and knew that this would be my career. In 1996, I was 16 and Max Miller at KOSO in Modesto, California hired me on a part-time basis as an on-air personality. I was so excited to be apart of the station that, instead of hanging out with my friends after school, I was at the studio every night working or just hanging out. As soon as I graduated high school, I was promoted to full-time Midday talent and eventually Production Director and Assistant Program Director. In 2000, I moved to Greenville, South Carolina and took a job at WFBC/WORD as Production/Imaging Director. One year later I was lucky enough to obtain a job at KMXB. During the last seven years in Vegas, I've been Imaging Director, Production Director, Music Director, Assistant Program Director and finally elevated to Program Director at 25 years old. Now at 28, I'm PD of both KMXB Mix 94.1 (Hot AC) and KKJJ 100.5 Jack-FM (Adult Hits). I've had the time of my life here at Vegas and feel extremely proud to work for such amazing stations and the best radio company in the country."

What would your dream job be? "Someday I hope to own a media company complete with a radio cluster, advertising agency and production house."

Who has been your greatest influence? "It's hard to name just one person who's had the greatest influence, so I'll name the top 5. Max Miller (my first PD), Tom Humm (my current GM and the guy who gave me my 1st shot at PD), Charese Fruge (who I learned so much from as her APD), Guy Zapoleon (I've never even met him but I've based a lot of my own programming philosophy from his writings) and my father (who taught me good work ethic)."

What is the one format that you can't believe nobody has done? "Hasn't everything been done already???"

How could radio do a better job of attracting younger listeners? "We need to do a better job of embracing technology like web, text messaging, HD Radio, etc. Radio companies need to allocate more budget to hire tech experts and creative people to produce unique and compelling content for these new delivery systems. Making our station's more interactive, more on-demand and creating listener social networking in the digital arena will make us "sexier" to younger demos."

How will radio remain relevant in a digital world? "Radio is still the general public's main source for finding new music. We can't lose that distinction to the internet or any other medium. Music programmers need to constantly focus on music trends and artists. "Safe" radio and waiting for other to "warm a song up" won't work in the future. Just like Arbitron, music callout can no longer be trusted 100% due to the bad methodology. Stations that make music decisions based solely on chart positions and callout will never own their artists and will eventually fail. All of the content on your station, web-site, HD Channels should be delivering something unique and compelling. It sounds pretty obvious, but radio will remain relevant by delivering relevant content and entertainment to the masses."