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Ross Strauser By Naomi Morrison
The sound of MUSIC! The beat, the melodies, the inspiration, the flowing memories. Music is woven in to the fabric of our lives. For Ross Strauser, owner of BigValeyRadio.com, radio, music and developing entertaining and informative shows have intertwined throughout his professional life. A Montana native, Ross began his career as a radio broadcaster back in 1980. Like most disc jockeys, he worked in many markets and in just as many music formats before landing in Bozeman Montana. In 1989 he was transferred to the Flathead Valley with a local radio company and the rest is history. "This is where our family roots are" he said.
After working locally as a live show host, production director, music director, and program director for 18 years in local terrestrial radio, almost everyone knew his name and his voice. Between humorous on-air antics and donated time to a lengthy list of community organizations, he was able to make quite the name for
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himself. In January of 2007 he stepped away from his comfort zone and started Montana's first all-internet radio station. "I wanted to break away and do something on my own" Ross said. "We knew we were getting in to internet-radio in its infancy, but I wanted to jump at the chance to be a part of this fast-growing technology." He continued "I'm intrigued by technology and entrepreneurs. I'm always looking at anything new and I tend to follow it."
As an internet-based radio station, BigValleyRadio.com isn't regulated by the FCC like traditional radio, and the listening audience isn't limited to the airwaves, it's a global marketplace. As such, the listening audiences tend to be different from one another.
"For the most part, our audience looks at traditional radio as an old-school thing. People who listen on-line want something different than what radio has to offer" he said. "They are a younger audience with a craving for a larger variety of music and entertaining shows. Constant change is important to them."
Ross met the challenge by starting BigValleyRadio.com. With his years of experience as a broadcaster, professional audio producer and show developer, he partnered with his wife Sue who was already experienced in writing, website design and coding, photography, film and video production and more. The two started Big Valley Entertainment specializing in audio production, and professional voice over- not only for Ross, but big name clients such as Jungle Jack Hanna, The History Channel, BBC, 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks,