Grant McHill was named the new Program Director of 101 KXL in Portland last week. And the move had been more than a decade in the making.
McHill joined the station 10 years ago. During his time with the news/talk outlet, he’s worked as the News Director, in addition to joining the station’s morning show.
But the urge to lead the brand was always there.
“I’ve known this brand for more than 10 years,” said McHill. “I was in Eugene for about seven before that, and I grew up in Oregon, so, the name KXL is synonymous, I think, with good local radio news and programming … I know what the station means to Portland. I’m proud to be part of it, and can’t wait to see what we can do as a team to help it grow.”
McHill noted that for the past year and a half or so, he’s handled plenty of the programming duties for the station, in addition to serving as the News Director.
But it was an off-the-cuff question from Ross MacLeod, the Operations Manager of the Connoisseur Media Portland cluster, led to McHill officially taking the reins.
“Ross and I were just talking one day, and he kind of looked over and said, ‘Hey, do you wanna be PD?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. Yeah, I do,'” he said with a reminiscent laugh. “It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve passed on other opportunities to leave and to PD at other stations, because I believe in KXL.”
The strong connection Grant McHill has with Portland and 101 KXL was too much to move on from, however.
“Portland and Oregon is home for me. It’s where my family’s at,” he shared. “So, it really was excitement. I also feel the burden of it, and I want to do the best I can do. It’s not lost on me the importance of the station, especially here in our cluster.”
And that familiarity with the market, the station, company, and personnel will help McHill hit the ground running.
“When the rest of my team found out, they all said, ‘Oh, so you’re just officially gonna keep doing what you’re doing.’ So it definitely is helpful. I’m familiar with the station. I know my team. I know how to work with Lars (Larson) and Markley, van Camp, and Robbins, who we’re so fortunate to have on our team as well.”
KXL is a bit of a different news/talk station than others in the genre. The station hosts two news-focused blocks of programming in morning and afternoon drive. Between those dayparts, both of the aforementioned shows — The Lars Larson Show and Markley, van Camp, and Robbins — are nationally syndicated through Compass Media Networks.
So both news and talk programming feature prominent roles on the Connoisseur Media Portland station.
And that won’t be changing under Grant McHill’s leadership.
“It really helps set the stage for the station to be successful all day, especially from five until seven at night … We all work together. It’s all a team. We definitely have our own rules. I firmly believe in news is news, and that’s the way it should be. And commentary and talk have a great place here in this market as well.”
“Robert Dove, our former general manager, said this really well: ‘KXL is the conscience of Portland,'” McHill later added. “What he meant by that was, from the news side of our station, we deliver the content, the news, that our residents and Oregonians need to hear. And I think that really is important for any market, especially here in Portland, where we have a lot going on at all times.
“I think, the backbone to our station mornings and also afternoons is to keep our listeners informed and to know that they can trust us to give them information that they need to know in a fair and in a complete way. I think we serve the news as the conscience of the station. And then, we have Lars and Markley, van Camp, and Robbins, who entertain listeners as well. I think we hit everything from all sides. I think there’s definitely a need for news, and for listeners — especially on their way to and from work or in the office — we provide that to them. And I think we do it well.”
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
