FoGR Pods: Podcasts from the Friends of Georgia Radio

In the late 1970s, there were only a small handful of commercial stations featuring jazz programming. But WQXI-FM ("94Q")-- a extremely successful Atlanta pop rock station--- added a 5-hour jazz show Sunday nights 7 to midnight, and generated double digit shares-  Sometimes 20+ shares Adults 25-54!  Here's the inside story from Don Benson, the PD who put it on, and from Fleetwood Gruver and Russ Davis, the first two h...

We gathered three incredibly bright Georgia college students who finished two weeks of intensive workshops and radio training at the GAB’s Radio Talent Institute at Grady College at UGA. We’ll find out what they learned, whom they met (A Who’s Who of Georgia and national radio leaders), and what they will do with all their new knowledge. Dennis Winslow talks with GAB President Bob Houghton, Brenau and UGA's Massimo Bellew, Pied...

Mike Roberts and Carol Blackmon anchored mornings at heritage Urban powerhouse WVEE from the late 80s thru the late 90s – dominating morning ratings and winning accolades and awards. (Mike’s a Georgia Radio Hall of Fame and a GAB Hall of Fame inductee, and Carol was inducted into the National Black Radio Hall of Fame, and recently honored by the Library of Congress as she joined the Black Women in Radio Class of 2023.)

Back togeth...

ABC/CapCities imported PD Neil McGinley to Atlanta from flame-throwing CHR WKBW in Buffalo to their new country property, WKHX 101.5 in Atlanta.  And Neil imported a morning guy from a top-rated rock station in Houston, where he had a reputation as a “shock jock.”  Together, they built a heritage country morning show brand in the heart of the South.  Back together again, in one of the last recorded interviews before Moby's deat...

Brian Philips-Chief Content Officer, Cumulus

Over 30 years ago, Susquehanna radio put their Top 40 “Power 99” to bed, and birthed a new station – the original “99X.” With a legendary morning show – “The Morning X” – and a unique roadmap (there really wasn’t one in the beginning), the station carved out a place in Georgia radio history but eventually was itself replaced. Fast forward, and the visionary program manager Brian Philips ...

FoGRPod # 13- “History of WRAS-Part 2”  has some really great guests – two Atlanta natives who both got started at “Album 88” in different eras:

John Asante, who was a show host and News Director from 2007-2009, and then ended up at WNYC and NPR in New York, helping to produce such iconic shows as “Ask Me Another,” “The Takeaway,” and “Talk of the Nation.” From there, he headed for Los Angeles where he is now an award-winning ...

WRAS’s Drew Murray and Jeff Walker- In addition to arriving at WRAS during the station’s infancy in the early 1970s, Drew Murray has the distinction of being the very first voice on the brand new “96 Rock” when WKLS flipped from beautiful music. And Jeff Walker is the WRAS staffers who just can’t leave! Jeff was PD in 1981, then GM, then Operations manager and Advisor off and on from 1986 to today. (He even retired once, but it did...

A native of Pittsburgh, one of Dwight Douglas’s first broadcasting jobs after college was as a video guy for TV’s “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Later, radio successes led him to a job with the ABC O&O radio stations helping revitalize their FM properties.  He eventually ended up at the largest radio consulting firms in the world-- Burkhart/Douglas and Associates-- consulting some of America’s best stations, and working with ...

Laura Starling—Laura got her start while in Athens for college, but headed back home to finish her degree at Wesleyan College in Macon, and before she even graduated, she started working at powerhouse country WDEN. 40 years --- and three changes of ownership later --- she’s still doing morning drive at WDEN. She’s a ADDY Award winner, a member of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, and a regular winner of macon.com’s voting as Macon’s ...

Kaedy Kiely has been doing drive time radio in Atlanta for 40 years, first at iconic Atlanta station 96 Rock, then at Classic Rock Z93, and then as both Morning Drive host and now afternoon personality at top-rated 97.1 The River. A native Atlantan and Emory graduate, Kiely’s first calling was singing and acting, but the radio bug hit her and she’s now one of Atlanta’s longest running air talents. Dennis Winslow finds out about her...

Kaedy Kiely- Kaedy has been doing drive time radio in Atlanta for 40 years, first at iconic Atlanta station 96 Rock, then at Classic Rock Z93, and then as both Morning Drive host and now afternoon personality at top-rated 97.1 The River. A native Atlantan and Emory graduate, Kiely’s first calling was singing and acting, but the radio bug hit her and she’s now one of Atlanta’s longest running air talents. Dennis Winslow traces her l...

BEAR O’BRIAN grew up in Manchester listening to Atlanta and Columbus radio, dreaming that he, too, could be on the radio. He started along the path right out of high school with jobs in Perry, Barnesville, Monroe, and Wrens, but when he got that chance to go to legendary station WCGQ in Columbus as a copywriter, he took it. Several weeks later, the long time morning guy quit, Bear asked for the job, and got it, spending the next 40...

MARA DAVIS enjoyed a successful first act as a longtime Atlanta-based FM radio DJ, TV host, emcee and gal about town. In these podcasts, she discusses her arrival at Classic Rock Z93 in the mid-90s, and the transition to Dave FM, and later, hosting “Mara’s Music Mix” on 90.1 WABE.
Mara’s been the talent booker job at Adult Swim and booked top bands from Cage The Elephant to Neko Case, Jason Isbell, Sting and emerging talent lik...