BOOM! COVER PROFILE
Greg & Susan, Real Personality This month’s BOOM! profile is Greg Budell and Susan Woody. Many of you know them from the Susan and Greg Morning Show on Newstalk Radio Station 93.1 from 6 to 9 each weekday morning. They’ve been sharing microphones for a number of years and they recently won the Alabama Broadcasters Association for “Best Morning” show. They are like many of us in the over 50 community who work at something they love and age doesn’t get in the way of their success. They are not married but they sound like many married couples you know. They are spontaneous and authentic personalities who will make you laugh every morning! We hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as we have. BOOM!: Please give us a brief biography, i.e. are you from the Montgomery area, did you raise your family here, schools, married, family, etc? Greg: In 2004, I asked a guest psychic on my morning show “Where will I be in 5 years”...I laughed as she said “the South”. I thought she was nuts. She persisted. She was right. I had always envisioned life in the south as more genteel and romantic so when I had the chance to build a new empire in Montgomery, I took it.
I began compiling formal studies on listeners and sold my first one to WLS the summer after graduating high school. I formed my own research company and worked it while going to the U. of Illinois at Chicago. Susan Woody, Jay Scott and Greg Budell at Newstalk 93.1 I finished a research project of my adulthood at the Montgomery Little for ABC-FM in 1973, when FM was first Theater, and in 1979 became the vocalist starting to take listeners from the AM dial. for The Montgomery Recreators, an They wanted a different type of jock- a 18-piece dance band. It’s big band music communicator and not a screamer. I began that I enjoy singing most…standards like as an experiment. New York, New York and At Last.
The ultimate reward is using the influence you build to help others. I love to laugh but my best shows have been in and around tough or dangerous times...9/11... Katrina...and these days, with people so worried about the future, Susan: I’m a Montgomery it is rewarding to know they turn to you for a little native. Ashley, my daughter escape. Becoming a part and mother of my two grandsons, lives in Fairhope, of someone’s daily routine Greg with his Alabama Broadcasters AL. My son, Will, is a is a real privilege, and one “Best Personality” Award server at The A & P Grille that has to be earned anew every single day. in Cloverdale. He’s also a singer and musician. BOOM!: Many people know you as a BOOM!: You’ve been in the radio industry radio personality, but you’re also a terrific most of your life, why did you get into singer. Please tell us how you got started singing and what style of music you enjoy radio? What has been the most rewarding performing. aspect about it? Greg: Radio got into me. In high school (Chicago) I was always curious about people’s listening habits. Why they liked certain personalities and didn’t like others.
16 BOOM!
May 2015
RiverRegionBoom.com
Susan: Like so many performers, my singing career began in the youth choir of my church. I honed my skills during high school and college, spent the greater part
BOOM!: How did you get to become a radio personality? Did you choose radio as a career or was it a natural choice for an entertainer like yourself? What has been the most rewarding aspect about it? Susan: In 1988, while working as a bank teller, I was invited to sing on a morning radio show. That appearance led to a job offer in radio sales which I accepted with some reservations. After all, I was a 40 year old mother of two with a steady job taking a big chance in unfamiliar territory. Then, just like in the movies, one of our onair personalities failed to show up for work, and I got my first crack at an open mike. I was hooked. The most rewarding part of my job? It affords me the opportunity to work with funny, creative people; I literally laugh out loud every day. BOOM!: Would you share how the Greg and Susan Morning Show got started? Greg: Let’s begin with Jay. He is the referee- and a smart young man with a good sense of humor and the perfect
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