Every week, another name lands on the wrong side of a layoff list. Some find their way back. Many are still waiting for the phone to ring, wondering if the business they gave their life to is done with them.
Dylan Salisbury knows that feeling. Four months ago, he was out. Today, he’s the new Program Director for MacDonald Broadcasting’s Mid-Michigan cluster — 98 KCQ (WKCQ), 97.3 Joe FM (WMJO) and 104.1 The Bay (WSAG/WSAM) — and he’s doing mornings on KCQ, too.
His road back wasn’t pretty. But it’s worth hearing, especially if you’re the one still waiting for that call.
A Contest, a Website and an Intern Ad
Plenty of radio lifers have the origin story — the kid with turntables and a microphone, broadcasting to an audience of one down the hall. Salisbury doesn’t.
“You know, I’m always envious of stories like that,” he said. “I didn’t have that story. I kind of just stumbled into it.”
He grew up in Minnesota, where radio is part of everyday life. Anyone who’s walked the Minnesota State Fair knows it. “It’s just kind of ingrained in who we are as Minnesotans,” he said.
One day, he won a contest to see an artist in the KDWB Sky Room. He went to the station’s website to find the address, figuring it had to be in one of those big shiny buildings in downtown Minneapolis. It wasn’t. But just below the address sat an ad for a morning show intern on The Dave Ryan Show.
“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool! I’m in college. I’m gonna have to intern somewhere,'” Salisbury said. “This sounds way cooler than getting coffee at an insurance agency. So I sent an email, and the rest, as they say, is rock and roll history.”
From Swiss Army Knife to Program Director
The internship turned Salisbury into the go-to board op in Minneapolis — the Swiss Army knife guy. His first full-time job came at 106.3 KFRX in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he handled afternoons, social media and music. He was there about eight months.
From there, the résumé filled out the way radio résumés do. There were stops at 107.5 Kiss FM in Des Moines, WZPL in Indianapolis and 98.9 Magic FM in Colorado Springs. Eventually, he landed in Portland, programming 98.7 The Bull and Live 95.5 from June 2022 until this year.
Ask him which stop meant the most, and he gives two answers.
“Indianapolis was my favorite, probably because of how well I was embraced when I was in Indy,” he said. “For some reason, the listeners just took to me there, and they showed me love like I haven’t seen before or haven’t seen since.”
Portland earns the other spot, for the scenery and the creative swings. That includes AI Ashley, Live 95.5’s headline-grabbing experiment with an AI-voiced version of its midday host.
“That was a really cool thing to be a part of,” he said. “And working with Phil Becker and all the cool things that we were able to do will always be special to me as well.”
The Identity Crisis Nobody Talks About
Then came the call nobody wants. When Connoisseur Media let him go, Salisbury didn’t just lose a job. He lost a piece of who he was.
“Once you’re let go, you kind of have an identity crisis because we’re all nuts in this job,” he said. “We all love it so much. You don’t walk into Target and see people as excited about their jobs as radio people are.”
He’s quick to add there are no hard feelings. “Nothing against Connoisseur. They were great to me. They gave me an awesome opportunity,” he said. “It was just like, what am I gonna do now? I didn’t know that I’d ever do radio again.”
Sitting still didn’t suit him, either. “I don’t know how people sit out of work. That drove me absolutely insane,” he said.
So did he consider a career outside radio? He never got that far. “I didn’t even get to a point where I considered anything else,” he said. “I was like, it’s got to be radio, and I’m probably not smart for that.”
His fiancée kept him grounded, reminding him it might not happen. Still, he held onto a lesson from his mentor, Dave Ryan, who wrote about it in his book. Don’t have a Plan B, because the moment you do, you let up on Plan A.
“I kind of took that to heart,” Salisbury said, “and it’s kind of been all radio ever since.”
Four Months of No
Blind ambition doesn’t make the phone ring, though. Salisbury sent out résumés and airchecks. He hit every contact he’d ever made.
“For four months I got no’s,” he said. “I was told no and disregarded. Even in situations where I was way overqualified, there would be people that didn’t even respond to my email or application. It was very disheartening for the longest time.”
That silence is familiar to a lot of talented people right now. And Salisbury still feels it, even on this side of the hire.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt kind of like a survivor’s remorse or guilt, because there’s way better, way more talented on-air people, programmers that are out of work right now than I am,” he said. “I just got lucky and got this opportunity.”
Leave Your Ego Out of It
So what’s his advice for the people still slugging it out?
“Don’t have a second option, and don’t give up, because if you quit, you definitely won’t get back into radio,” he said. “But if you never quit, you might.”
He means it when he says apply for everything. Market size included.
“Leave your ego out of it,” he said. “If you really love radio and you want to do radio, it doesn’t matter where, and it doesn’t matter with who. There’s a lot of great things happening in smaller market radio, even in some aspects that you might like better than major large markets. So don’t count those out.”
He’s also honest about his own advantage. His fiancée works from home and was willing to move anywhere. Not everyone has that flexibility.
“I realize that not everybody’s in that position, and I feel for them,” he said. “It gives me a lot of freedom and opportunity to chase opportunities that not everybody can, and that’s how I found myself in Saginaw.”
Live, Local and On the Street
MacDonald Broadcasting is a family-owned company that dates back to 1962, and it’s built around live and local radio. Salisbury says voice-tracking and syndication are kept to a minimum, with people in the studio almost around the clock.
That makes getting out of the building a priority. “It’s going to be a very big priority for us to be out in the street and out in the Tri-Cities and Flint areas, so that way we can be in front of people,” he said. “Radio certainly lost that, but especially over COVID.”
He’s also building a team. The cluster is replacing its number two in programming, a role that has included APD and afternoons on Joe FM, the company’s adult hits variety station. But Salisbury says the door is open wider than one job description.
“We’re kind of looking for anybody,” he said. “We want to hear everybody out. For the right person in the right situation, we can customize roles and responsibilities.”
Interested candidates can send materials directly to dylan@macdonaldbroadcasting.com or to jobs@macdonaldbroadcasting.com.
Radio Needs Great People
After our conversation, Salisbury followed up with one more piece of advice. It’s one he borrowed from Phil Becker — who, he admits, probably borrowed it from someone else.
“Take the opportunity you’re given and turn it into the job you want.”
“What I mean by that is, if you love radio and you have the opportunity to take a job in a ‘less desirable’ market, for less money than you’d ideally like, or without the fancy title you’re looking for, take it,” he added. “Get your foot in the door. Do the job, make an impact, and prove what you can do. If you’re as good as you believe you are, people will notice. And when they do, those opportunities and career advancements tend to follow.”
For anyone sitting on the sidelines, Salisbury’s final word is the one he lived.
“If you’re out right now and you want to get back in, keep at it. You will get back in,” he said. “I truly believe if your heart’s really in it for all the right reasons, and you leave your ego out of it, you’ll get back into radio. Where, when, how is all up in the air. But keep at it, because radio needs great people.”
He’s right. There’s a lot of talent out there waiting for the phone to ring. Saginaw just proved it still does.
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