The Many Faces of Local Radio
By Risa Jones
11/16/18
When listeners tune into their favorite radio station, they aren’t necessarily thinking about the person behind the voice. But in the small office space wedged in the middle of Park Plaza, a strip of businesses off of South College Street in Auburn, Alabama, all of these voices come to life.
From the outside, Tiger Communications, Inc. doesn’t look like much but inside houses an eclectic mix of people setting the place apart from the offices around it. A mosaic spelling WTGZ in little blue tiles acts as the front door’s permanent doormat and although WTGZ no longer operates inside those doors, the letters cement the building’s use for radio affairs.
Tiger Communications, Inc. is the parent company that manages four individual stations including WAUD, the official Auburn University affiliate station. But their stations aren’t only about sports, their coverage spans over several music genres. 99.9 KATE FM, 93.9 TIGER FM, and 95.9 TALK FM provide more than enough music, talk, and sports for Southeast Alabama.
In order to make all of the moving components of a radio station function together smoothly, each member of the team must be able to wear different hats and do the list of tasks required throughout the day. Most of the employees working at the station have on-air responsibilities as well as duties to complete around the office, making the space a hive of activity.
Each of the four stations is licensed to a particular county where their FM radio tower is located, but their frequencies reach much farther than just one county. General Manager and morning show host on 99.9 KATE FM, Brooke Myers, juggles many jobs throughout the day and one of them is visiting these sites when necessary. Myers says, “Everyone’s got multiple titles here.”
At Tiger Communications, Inc. each station has their own studio to produce their radio shows. The four studios are located in a central hallway and walking down it is a trip through the annals of music history. Every genre is covered one way or another and each room has a different vibe.
Radio, like many industries based on technology, has experienced rapid advancement in the past two decades. The introduction of the internet and then the invention of virtual streaming software like Pandora and Spotify have changed the entire radio industry forever.
While this has increased the efficiency at which radio disc jockeys can download music for their shows, it has also decreased the level of skill required to be an on-air DJ. “Old-school DJing was very intense. I mean, think about when you have to go to the bathroom.” Myers says, “You gotta put a long song on!”
What used to take ten minutes per song now takes virtually seconds. Old-school DJs used to line their records up by their equipment carefully before each show and now DJs can queue up as many songs as they want in a matter of moments.
In stark contrast to the classic picture of a radio DJ, Matt Gaught, Program Director for 93.9 TIGER FM and host of Midday Music with Matt, keeps his on-air talking to a minimum. Gaught says, “I’m here because I like the music and I feel like a lot of people are listening to us because they like the music too.” According to Gaught, being one of the sole alternative stations in the area — not the glitz and glam of an on-air personality — draws in most of their listeners.
It’s clear that the industry has changed rapidly, but Myers says, “Radio might not be exactly what it looks like right now, or what it looked like twenty or thirty years ago, but in the future, I think it’ll always be there because it’s free and people will listen.”
The evolution the music industry has gone through is reflected in the decor inside the studio office. The main meeting room is lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with the frayed remnants of somebody’s favorite albums. The smell of the old records mixed with the morning coffee still sitting on every DJ’s desk creates a welcoming environment.
The studio has changed over the years in more than just technological advancements. DJs come and leave their mark on the space when they eventually leave. The rooms have been repurposed and refurbished time and time again, but the integrity of the original building remains. Where the walls aren’t covered in a thick green carpet, a cost-efficient way to sound-proof the studios, they’re covered in layers of worn down concert posters, showcasing the different phases this space has been through.
Nuzzled in the front corner of the warmly-lit office is Stacey Linn, Sales Manager for all of Tiger Communications. Sat in front of a multicolored mandala tapestry, Linn packages up each station nice and neat to sell advertising time to local businesses and organizations. Radio stations depend on advertising to keep their doors open, so Linn is saddled with an important task.
Since she handles four distinct stations, Linn says, “When I call on a client I try to think about who their customer is. What stations do we have that will be the best fit for them to get customers to walk through their doors.” The fruits of Linn’s labors aren’t always seen, but without her contribution behind the scenes, the stations wouldn’t function as the well-oiled machines they are.
Just like cogs in a machine, the different DJs in their studios broadcast their show simultaneously and echos of their shows can be heard from the main lobby, making the studio seem alive with activity. A place without a purpose is just a place, and the family of music-lovers that Tiger Communications, Inc. has accumulated here has given this humble place a meaning.
Lesson Learned
General Manager of Tiger Communications, Inc. and morning show host, Brooke Myers, learned the hard way not to give away too much personal information on public radio when a repeat caller of hers started to send her mysterious gifts. Her caller, Gino, sent Myers expensive gifts including a gold bracelet and eventually advanced as far as to send the office dozens of care packages with various organizing and cleaning tools. Myers attributes this to how much she talks about her love of keeping things neat at home and in the office. “It was a little freaky for me, so I’ve really chilled out on talking about myself,” Myers says.
Brooke Myers’ office
General Manager
DJ/Host of Morning Show on 99.9 KATE FM
Tiger Communications, Inc.
2514 South College St., Unit 104.
Auburn, AL. 30068.