The Infinite Dial

Title: Program Director of KKOB-FM (CHR) and KMGA-FM (AC), Albuquerque, New Mexico (Citadel Broadcasting)

Who is Justin? "Born and raised in Yakima, Washington, which is also where my radio career began at the age of 12. I was spending my Saturday's following around my favorite station, KFFM, to remotes. After the jocks realized they weren't going to get rid of me, they began teaching me the business. Lisa Adams, now PD of KVMX in Portland, Oregon, taught me how to run my first board. From then on, I was hooked. I spent my school vacations at the radio station, from 6am-6pm. I pulled carts, answered the request line, and covered segues when the jocks needed a smoke or bathroom break. On my 13th birthday, the GM gave me my own show. It was a Friday night, and from 10pm-Midnight "Jammin' Justin" made his debut. From there, I was given a regular shift. 6am-1pm on Sunday. I ran syndicated programming from 6am-12pm...but for one hour a week, I was live! By 15 I was doing a couple of live shifts each weekend, and covered overnights during my summer break. At 16 I became the night jock, doing 6p-10p each weeknight live. I also started my own Mobile DJ service, 10-18 Productions. At 17 and 18 I was doing Afternoon Drive, and getting school credit for it.

When I graduated from High School in 2000, I was promoted to Music Director, and Assistant Program Director shortly thereafter. When then PD Kramer left, I was made Interim Program Director. I never found out if I was being seriously considered for the position, because I left for a new gig. At 19, I made the jump from Yakima (Market #198) to Salt Lake City, Utah (Market #32), where I was APD/MD/Afternoons at KQMB (now KSL-FM) for nearly 4 years. In October of 2005, at age 23, I got my first set of PD stripes at KSII El Paso, Texas. From there I moved 3 hours up the road to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I'm currently Program Director of two great stations, CHR/Mainstream KKOB-FM and AC KMGA-FM. Although radio is the major part of my life, I'm also a licensed pilot. I also enjoy cooking, traveling, and watching TV. There's nothing better than mindless entertainment!"

What would your dream job be? "For me, it's about location. I love the Northwest, so becoming an OM in Seattle or Portland is my ultimate goal. Somewhere in California would be great, too!"

Who has been your greatest influence? "Outside of radio, my Mom & Dad. They didn't know anything about this crazy business, but they supported my decision to pursue a career in it. Inside of radio, it would be a couple of my first acquaintances in the business. Keith Taylor (KFFM Mornings), Lisa Adams (KFFM Middays), and Dale Carpenter (KFFM General Manager). Two of the three are no longer in radio, but at the time they all helped me to understand the radio business as a whole, teaching me about the 'bad' aspects as well as the 'good.' They taught me from the beginning that there's a lot more to it than pushing buttons and talking on the air."

What is the one format that you can't believe nobody has done? "One that I'm looking forward to is a 90's format. I don't think we're too far away from somebody busting out the Ace of Base!"

How could radio do a better job of attracting younger listeners? "We've got to find a compelling combination of live and on-demand content. I think radio is doing a fairly good job of embracing new media. Mentions of the station website, text messaging, etc, is at least helping us to speak their language. But radio is becoming too generic, and the only way we're going to attract the younger listeners is to give them things that their iPod can't, like locality. A voice tracked jock talking about "Thousand Dollar Thursday" isn't going to cut it anymore."

How will radio remain relevant in a digital world? "I think we have to go back to the old way of thinking. Stations should each have their own PD. Remember how GREAT stations sounded when the guy or gal in charge got to spend all day coming up with ideas for their 'baby?' We also need live, local talent all day long. TALENT is the key word. If it's just someone reading liners about a car dealership remote, then an iPod or a burned CD is definitely more appealing. And, we've got to keep our websites fresh and compelling. It's now very likely that potential listeners learn about us from our websites before even turning on the radio. The site is just as important as the imaging we're putting between songs."