Getting your first radio job is often called the hardest thing to do. However, Ray Stevens has a different perspective. For him, navigating the industry in the post-pandemic era has been challenging. Stevens has been off the air in a full-time capacity since 2019. In that year, when the pandemic had just started, Cumulus Media, the parent company of WLS, the radio station where Stevens worked, decided to let him go.
Ray Stevens, an award-winning personality — including the prestigious Macaroni Award — had to reinvent himself to remain relevant. He produced podcasts and leveraged social media to promote specific projects.
Additionally, he maintained relationships with advertisers who sought him to voice their commercials on various radio stations in Chicago. Ray Stevens also collaborated with Chicago’s FOX TV affiliate to create a feel-good segment highlighting positive news from around Chicagoland.
Ray Stevens looks back on that period with gratitude, as he is thankful for persevering through the challenges that came his way. Despite his previous success at large stations and his confidence in his skill set, Stevens knew that he would have to be patient and continuously network to find new opportunities.
Filling in for KCMO’s morning show and host, Pete Mundo, allowed him to develop a deep appreciation for the KCMO audience. He was particularly impressed by the local commercials and believed that the team at KCMO went above and beyond to produce excellent local radio.
Ray Stevens has landed a great opportunity. KCMO Radio recently revealed that Stevens will be hosting the station’s midday show. This announcement follows Chris Stigall’s announcement of his departure from radio to pursue other opportunities. Stevens is thrilled about his show and the potential of creating similar bonds with his audience as he did during his decades-long tenure at US99 in Chicago.
In an interview with Barrett News Media, Ray Stevens talks about his path to KCMO, how he handled the adversity of being laid off during the pandemic, the one thing he regrets most in his broadcasting career, and some of the qualities that he thinks make a great talk show host.
Ryan Hedrick: What are your feelings about being named the new midday host at KCMO?
Ray Stevens: I’ve been doing a lot of fill-in work. I would consider myself the main fill-in guy at WLS (AM 890 in Chicago), and I have a weekend show at WLS in Chicago. By way of Cumulus Chicago, guys like Bill Hess (Cumulus Corporate Program Director), Dave Milner (Cumulus President of Operations), and Marv Nyren (Cumulus VP and Market Manager), I met Pete Mundo out in Kansas City.
The first time I ever listened to KCMO was when it came through my headphones. The thing that got me right away was one, I was listening to myself, but two, I heard the production, I heard the local commercials for local advertisers, and not just the swath of AM commercials that you usually hear, and it was done right.
KCMO has a sales team that works. They have an imaging team that gets it. It’s just a good-sounding radio station. Subsequently, I would fill in for Pete Mundo (KCMO Morning Host and Program Director) whenever he would go on vacation, being that there wasn’t a conflict with WLS at the time.
And then I met Pete, and he’s just a nice guy. The way he conducts himself on the air, the way he conducts himself off the air. The way he does radio, he doesn’t yell at anybody, it’s intelligence. It’s not a morning zoo, it’s informative, it’s local. You add all that into him being a good guy, and I couldn’t ask for a better situation right now.
RH: Is there a learning curve for a Chicagoan to understand the priorities of Kansas City residents, and how do you plan to overcome them?
RS: I used to look at that as a challenge. I come from a parochial town in Chicago that loves its homegrown media. When I fill in in Kansas City, all of a sudden, I start getting Twitter followers. Last week, I got a message from a guy named Travis. He’s in Kansas City and said, “I can’t wait to listen to you every day. I listen to you every time you fill in. It’s going to be a great fit.”
The listeners at KCMO always made me feel at home, and I think that’s probably one of the real reasons why I jumped at the chance to do this. I’m sure there will be a learning curve, but filling in it felt right. Kansas City is a good midwestern town, and I’m a midwestern guy. It’s going to take work, and I’m not afraid of hard work. If you listen to what the listeners say, pay attention to social media, and listen to the producer who’s been there forever, I think I’ll be alright.
RH: Audacy’s KMBZ dominates the ratings in Kansas City as a top news/talk station. Are there any plans for KCMO to challenge KMBZ’s position?
RS: I’m a guy who thrives on success, and I think it comes as you work at it. I’ve won Marconi Awards, CMA (Country Music Association), AMA (American Music Awards), and Country Music Broadcast awards; I’ve been number one in Chicago. I think those things come with a dedicated team and a lot of people around you.
Right now, our focus is to do the best two-hour midday show that we can. I’m sure I will be more integrated into what we must do, where we have to go, and what we must do to get there. I’ve worked for the company that was Audacy; I know what they do. I think those talks will come down the road. But right now, let’s get in there and try to do a job as good if not better than Chris [Stigall] did.
RH: I have noticed a lot of discussion in our industry regarding the qualities that make an audience want to tune into a show. Some people advocate using hard-hitting political talk to grab listener’s attention, but I am curious to know your thoughts on this approach.
RS: I’ve done talk radio for a long time in a city that hasn’t voted Republican for over 100 years. You can be a conservative, and you can have compassion. I don’t know why many of the guys talk like they are tough guys and say, “We’re right, you’re wrong, and that’s just how it’s going to be.” I don’t agree with a lot of stuff that gets said as you move farther to the left, some of those folks’ opinions.
At the end of the day, we are all in a world where we live together. I think if you can be what I call a “compassionate conservative”, you can reach out and grow your station in other ways. Not everyone will always agree with you, but at least they can say they get where you are coming from.
In Chicago, I work with the Chicago Street Pastors, where we get into the neighborhoods. These people aren’t listeners of conservative talk radio, but you go in there and do what needs to be done because, although crime is horrible right now, prosecutors are horrible right now. It’s like that in just about every big major city. I think you have to be inclusive with people to get your point across. They might not like your point, but maybe they will respect it at the end of the day.
RH: You are part of a long line of talented individuals who have excelled as both music jocks and talk personalities. Music jocks tend to thrive in the talk radio format. Why do you think that is?
Ray Stevens: I think you have to be laser-focused; you have to know what you want to say and do it concisely in a short time frame, and that’s a skill. To be able to do that and to be able to catch people’s attention is a real skill. Probably about a month ago, I had a young lady reach out to me who grew up listening to me on US99 in Chicago (country station). She said, “Would you do me a favor? I would like to fly you and your girlfriend to Dallas to announce the first song at my wedding.”
I was blown away by that. The first thing I said was thank you because when someone thinks of you on that level, that’s a connection that sometimes you forget you can make when you’re on the radio every day. Streaming will never be able to do that. SiriusXM will never be able to do that. I was really taken aback by the request, but I didn’t want to fly and cost her the money to put me up in a hotel and food and all that stuff.
So, I did a video for her, and she wanted to be introduced to the song by Kenny Chesney, Don’t Blink. It was really an honor to do that for her, and you forget that you can touch people in short bursts of time.
Everybody wants to be Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Howard Stern, or any of the big guys. The first time I heard [the slogan], “less talk, more music,” on our country radio station, I knew I had to go somewhere else. I think it’s in all of this. If you crack a mic anywhere, I don’t care what sized market it is, you can do talk radio. You look at every record like another talk topic. That’s the way I approach it.
RH: What is Ray Stevens’ perspective on winning on the radio and having a top-rated show?
RS: When we are doing stuff that matters to the listener. If it doesn’t matter to their heart, head, or wallet, why are you doing it? We take for granted the time that they give us. So, you need to work your ass off to prep to make sure that you are going to bring them through to the next break.
But more than that, winning is, to me, making the listener first. But, in this day and age, you better be able to go out on a sales call, close a deal, do a good endorsement deal for someone that doesn’t sound like a commercial, and keep the sales staff happy because, whether you like it or not, and it’s never going to change, sales first and then the on-air product.
As a pure radio guy, it hurts me to say it, but that’s the world we live in right now. And as this business continues to consolidate, we need to know that winning looks like great ratings, you have to have revenue, you have to connect with the listeners, and give them something that matters. I always come back to love the listeners and do what’s best for them.
RH: What is the one experience you regret in your radio career?
Ray Stevens: I stayed at US99 too long. I worked there for over 24 years. I went from being the night guy to the morning guy to having crazy success with a woman named Lisa Dent, who now does talk on 720 WGN and John Howell. If I had advice for anybody, even though it was a great run and so successful, I wish I would’ve pivoted to talk sooner. Maybe pursue my television work a little sooner.
Radio people are all supposed to be these nomads with a trailer behind their vehicles, and I know this sounds crazy, but I wish I would have done that a little more.
