Paul Marshall
Boston native Paul Marshall started his career at Beantown stations such as WZLX and WAAF before leaving his mark on the airwaves at WMFS/Memphis, WCKW/New Orleans, WEGE/Columbus, KRXQ/Sacramento, WBCN/Boston and others. He’s now serving as MD and afternoon drive host at the legendary KQRC/Kansas City. Through his travels town to town, up and down the dial, Marshall obviously left an impression, because he was recently voted into FMQB’s Hall Of Fame in the category of Major Market MD. Hence, we spoke to him about the skills that garnered his Hall Of Fame status.
e-QB presents excerpts from the June FMQB magazine Rock Up Close featuring KQRC/Kansas City’s “Neanderpaul” Marshall
On the secret to his longevity in the radio biz… I come from a very blue collar working family. My mother was a waitress and my father was an auto mechanic, and they both got up every morning and worked very hard. In 22 years of radio I’ve never taken a sick day. I’m a workaholic, and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially with the changing landscape of radio and communications overall.
On KQRC’s rock solid brand… This radio station does not speak down to its audience or speak at its audience, it hangs with its audience. We don’t judge anybody. Everybody is welcome. If they chose to make us part of their day, then we’re the ones that should be thankful. This brand was built by those that came before me, and will be continued by those who come after me. Everybody understands that this is a brand, not just a radio station. People have chosen to accept KQRC into their lives, and they really believe in this station, more so than anywhere else I’ve ever been.
On making programming decisions about music… We have a brand and that brand is pretty specific. We know what land we occupy here in Kansas City, and because we have some cluster stations here that satisfy other textures of Rock radio, we can be a little more selective. Unfortunately, that makes us a little more narrowly focused in what works for KQRC. We know what’s right for our station. Obviously there are some records you can’t ignore, but there have been records that have been #1 on the Active chart and #1 on the Alternative chart that we’ve never played because they just don’t fit our brand. The unfortunate part is that record companies’ jobs are to sell records and my job is to get audience, and sometimes those two things don’t go hand-in-hand.
On iPods vs. terrestrial radio… People don’t listen to the radio to hear music, but they listen to the radio to feel connected to the music. No matter how great that new Linkin Park or Shinedown album is, they’re not listening to their iPod to connect with that. They’re listening to me to connect with that. Radio is supposed to be a communal thing. People want to feel like they belong to something. I think the iPod is great and portable music is great. The best thing to do is take it by the hand and run with it. MP3 players are no different than cassette players were or eight-track players or records were. They didn’t kill radio, and neither will the iPod.
On the wisdom he would impart to young people trying to break into radio… Don’t expect to get out of school and make seven figures doing mornings in New York, L.A., Philadelphia or Chicago. It doesn’t work that way. You think that you’re entitled to that job, but there are people working in Kansas City and Des Moines and all these other towns who are also trying to get to a place like Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Don’t be afraid to move. This is a great, exciting job. You can see the United States on somebody else’s dime! We have a great country and there’s great radio being done in cities outside of those major markets. Don’t let market size cloud your career choice.
** QB Content by Mandy Feingold **
Also in the June Issue:
Q&A With WJBX/Ft. Myers APD Anthony “Roach” Proffitt
Eighteen years after beginning his radio career in Florida, Anthony “Roach” Proffitt comes full circle to help program one of the more successful medium market “New Rock” stations in the Sunshine Belt. We caught up with Roach and got the lowdown on ‘JBX, the hoopla over reporting status, and his thoughts on the state of the biz…
Judas Priest Discusses Nostradamus
Judas Priest has covered a lot of ground in their 30-plus year career, but 2008 marks the first time the band has ever offered its fans a concept record. The group’s new double album, Nostradamus, drops on June 17 and tells the story of the well-known 16th century French prophet. Obviously such a project was quite an undertaking, so Priest frontman Rob Halford and guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton sat down with WAXQ (Q104)/New York’s Ian O’Malley to discuss this new chapter in Priest history.
