July 31, 2017, Issue 561
All Roads Lead Back ... To Radio
Steve Pleshe’s first run at KSKS/Fresno started in 1994, and he eventually rose to PD. In 2008 he made the jump to the label side and, after nearly 10 years on the road with RCA, Streamsound and Black River doing West Coast promotion, he returned to the station as PD in May (CAT 5/2). Though not unheard of, the majority of migrations are radio to records, so Pleshe is able to bring an uncommon perspective to his new old role. Understandably, there’s a high degree of familiarity, most of it welcome. MD/morning show co-host Jody Jo is still there. Her co-host Gnarley Charley also remains, though he was in nights a decade ago. “The GM, sales manager and regional sales manager are also still Steve Pleshe here,” says Pleshe. “The craziest thing for me is that the equipment in the studio is all the same,” he adds. “When the station was built in 1997, it was all cutting edge. Now we’re about to get all new gear. We just had an engineer from corporate telling us about it.” Seeing airplay from the record label side has given him new appreciation for the power of radio. “I love having the ability to help artists achieve their dreams by playing their songs,” he says. “That’s the reason I fell in love with radio. We just had Midland, Canaan Smith and Tucker Beathard sell out a 3,500 seat venue here.” The transformational power of “being able to put on a show like that” carries more weight. Light The Corners Of My Mind: Those kinds of growth moments also drove his passion for label work. “I don’t hear this from a lot of reps, but I loved the radio tours,” admits Pleshe. “I was with Kelsea Ballerini on the first day of her radio tour. From the moment she got off the plane to our first visit at KNTY/Sacramento, you could tell there was something special. Seeing the fans discover her – that was it.” There are other aspects of promotion he’ll remember well, too. And not all of it fondly. For instance, “Getting yelled at when your artist does something for the station across the street, especially when you offered it to that station first.” (continued on page 7)
Got The G And The B: Pearl’s Garth Brooks and Gwendolyn’s Trisha Yearwood backstage with KSNI/Santa Maria, CA’s Jay Turner and Jessica Chavez (l-r).
Wiseman: Loud And Proud
With tomorrow’s (8/1) re-branding of the Big Loud companies (see page 3) and the two-year anniversary of Big Loud Records, Owner/ Managing Partner Craig Wiseman reflects on how he went from hit songwriter to running an asylum, and why he’s proud to be in the trenches with Country radio. By 2003 Wiseman had been a staff songwriter for companies including Almo/Irving and BMG, with No. 1s by Tracy Lawrence (“If The Good Die Young”), Tim McGraw (“Everywhere”) and Kenny Chesney (“She’s Got It All”), to name Craig Wiseman a few. But a late-night call from then-new songwriter Luke Laird convinced him to strike out on his own. “He and I were writing and we got a Kenny Chesney hold,” says Wiseman. “It was his first. He’d had a few beers and was so
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