They Start Them Young In Arkansas

This is Trey Stafford at age 10 reading school news on KPCA-AM in Marked Tree, Arkansas, where he grew up. Stafford started reading school news, later doing his own shows and hanging around the local station. He says he continued to hang around the station until he was 14 and that he never got paid a dime -- something called ?child labor laws,? which he thought always sounded suspect. Having worked the mic at age 9, even if it was for free, we wondered if Stafford stuck it out in the rough-and-tumble business of broadcasting. 

Trey's radio story does get even better. At 14, Stafford went to work at KTMN-AM in Trumann, Arkansas, where the manager, L.D. Hoover, actually paid him. So he stayed there until he graduated high school. Stafford went on to become the GM at KPCA-AM after high school, at age 18. He stayed until he was 23, then he and Bill Little bought KDXY-FM in Paragould in 1984 and formed the present Jonesboro cluster with Kevin Neathery and Bill and Bob Pressly in 1993. He sold to Ed Christian in 2002 with the understanding that ?my assets go home at night, you guys will stay and run it for me, right??

Stafford has been there ever since. He's currently the president and general manager of the Jonesboro Radio Group (formerly Triple FM Radio Group) in Jonesboro, AR. And occasionaly they allow him around the microphones.

Send your Blast From The Past and Classic Radio Story to edryantheeditor@gmail.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Max Media Sells Six To EAB Arkansas

8-15-13

The stations being sold by Max Media are: KCJC-FM, KCAB­ AM, Dardanelle, KWKK-FM, Russelville, KVLD-FM, Atkins, KVOM-AM and KVOM-FM, Morrilton, all in Arkansas. EAB of Russelville is an Arkansas-based company headed by Bobby Caldwell who owns several stations in the state of Arkansas. KALIL & CO. represented the buyer in the deal and Sunbelt Media represented the seller. No price was announced.

View the original article here

Crossno Moves to Arkansas

3-29-2012

Cumulus Memphis Radio Group GSM Chuck Crossno exits the four station cluster this week to take over as Director of Sales for East Arkansas Broadcasters. Crossno served as GSM with the Memphis Radio Group for the past year and a half, following a similar posting with the Clear Channel Memphis cluster.

Crossno has a thirty-plus year career in radio and television management, stretching back to his first on-air slot as a sixteen year old on KBTN-AM in Neosho, Missouri. He?s no stranger to Arkansas, having served as manager of the Arkansas Radio Network, and the NBC-TV affiliate in Fayetteville in the past. East Arkansas Broadcasters owns and operates stations in Jonesboro, Pocahontas, Wynne, Stuttgart, Dumas, DeWitt, Brinkley, Walnut Ridge, and West Memphis, all in Arkansas. Crossno will be based in the Jonesboro cluster.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here