Welcome to the sixth edition of 97.9 The Hill’s Staff Picks.
This time, read on as your favorite staffers discuss the following prompt: What job would I fulfill if I didn’t work at 97.9 The Hill? You got that right – if for some reason the universe didn’t lead all of us to our home here at The Hill, what would we be doing?
Interested to learn who would want to own a dog bar? Want to know what Ron Stutts would be doing if he wasn’t waking up at the crack of dawn to host the morning show? Curious to what your favorite news team and radio personalities wanted to be when they were just wee children?
Guess now which show host wanted to be a paleontologist!
Find out all that and more below.
Ron Stutts (Morning Show Host)
I really can’t imagine doing anything other that what I’ve been doing for the last 50 years or so. I really think I’m where I should be, doing what I’m doing, but since I’ve been asked the question, I’ll try and dig deep for an answer.
When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a Major League Baseball player. That didn’t work out for obvious reasons. Later when I got to high school I thought briefly about becoming a teacher…but only at the college level. I didn’t want to deal with the kind of wiseass kids that I was at that age. I think I could have been a college English professor, or maybe a Creative Writing professor. You know, one of those cool guys who wore tweed sport coats with elbow patches, and students could talk to about anything? But then, I was never a good enough student to follow through with that idea, so that didn’t happen.
I kind of fell into the radio business not because I had always dreamed of doing it, but it was fun for the most part, and I was a good talker, so that just happened. And here I am about a half-century later, still working at it.
I have always absolutely loved music, particularly old rock and soul music. I did some singing when I was in high school and college, but since I can’t play any instruments, that was never a realistic goal. So being a rock star is out!
I guess if I weren’t on the radio, I might own a record store, sort of like John Cusack’s character in the movie, “High Fidelity.” Or Zoe Kravitz in the TV remake of the show just last year. I am obsessed with music and I love playing it and talking about it. I would probably have a couple of obnoxious people like Jack Black’s character hanging around all day, and I would love turning younger people on to the music I’ve always enjoyed. And it would be fun discussing it with other music lovers of my generation, too. I have so many useful tidbits of information and obscure song lyrics in my head, and I would have to share them somehow. Of course, I would probably be so poor I would have to live in my store, and it would be a constant struggle not only to make a living, but just to stay afloat as a business. Not too many music stores actually make it these days!
Looking back on it, I guess I made the right decision. I hope everybody else thinks so, too!
Brighton McConnell (News Director)
As the news director, I certainly enjoy bringing up-to-date, relevant local news to our community and covering important topics affecting Orange and Chatham Counties. Having only been graduated from college a little more than a year and working at WCHL since then, it’s hard to say what else I would be doing besides working in radio!
When I was younger, I deeply loved both sports and history. I’d like to think if I wasn’t a journalist, I would be working in the sports industry somehow, either with a specific team or as a broadcaster. But I could also picture myself as a historian, since studying current events and relating them to history (specifically of the United States) is fascinating to me.
Dakota Moyer (Digital Content Manager)
I work as the digital content manager – which means managing Chapelboro.com and our social media channels. I function as the station’s photographer, videographer, and all-around go-to guy for website maintenance. I also work as a reporter, covering news and sports around the Chapel Hill area. I was lucky to attend several dozen UNC sports events this past year, allowing me to flex my creative skills for our website and social media profiles.
I’ve been around the news for as long as my remember due to the fact that my parents both worked for major newspapers around the country. I can’t imagine doing anything non-news related, but my passion for photography/creative works would probably lend to working more so towards the digital side of things rather than reporting.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a herpetologist (someone who studies reptiles and amphibians). However, my interest in science and biology dwindled in high school and college.
Ali Evans (Account Executive)
I’m an Account Executive for our advertising partners and I host Woman Crush Wednesday every week. I love connecting with business owners in my hometown and collaborating with them on how to spread the word about what they do! Woman Crush Wednesday is an amazing opportunity to shine a spotlight on local women who are CRUSHING IT!
It’s hard to imagine not working at 97.9 The Hill & Chapelboro.com. I was incredibly lucky to find this job shortly after making a career change into a role that was not right for me. I’ve only been here about a year, but it has felt like home for a while. With that being said, my dream job is to combine a dog park with a bar, and own a dog friendly outdoor bar. I was a bartender while I was in school at Appalachian State, and I love dogs a whole lot, so no one that knows me will be surprised by this. I make a pretty mean Long Island Iced Tea, and when you’ve had two of them, you’ll want to adopt a dog.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a Vet or a Lawyer, so not too far off. **insert far-FETCHed joke here** If Dog-Lawyer was a thing, that’s probably where I’d be right now. **insert pro-bone-o joke here**
Aaron AJ Johnson (Production Director and “Lovable Edgy Night Guy”)
Honestly haven’t thought about what I would do if I didn’t work at WCHL. I find it really hard to imagine doing anything else. Which is lucky considering when I first got into radio I had no idea it was going to turn into what I got paid to do. Of course, we all have those secret dreams that we don’t tell anyone about. For me, I imagine myself as a NASCAR driver. Going fast in a firesuit. Wouldn’t work out though as apparently wrecking people to get them out of your way is frowned upon.
Professional athlete. I’m close to doing it. I’m only 5 to 9 inches in height, and 75 to 100 lbs off from making it a reality.
Elle Kehres (Reporter and Staff Picks Aficionado)
Right now I work as a reporter at 97.9 The Hill! In my opinion, it’s a crazy time to be a reporter – but I’m doing my best to keep up with it all. I try to fit in as many mental health stories as I can along the way as I’m very passionate about decreasing the stigma around difficult topics like trauma, eating disorders and suicide. I love the medium of radio because I think telling a story without the distraction of pictures or video can be very impactful. Plus, I geek out over good voices so it can be very fun to work with audio.
I found my way to WCHL after a short stint in the TV industry in Charlotte. It was definitely a good learning experience but a little too cut-throat/big market for me. It was indeed just my luck that I knew our news director Brighton from college! I joked about him offering me a job and then here we are. Thanks universe! If I didn’t work in radio I would be working for a nonprofit – still writing or working with people in some way, shape or form. Perhaps a grant writer to help good causes get the funds they need.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a veterinarian. After any and all math and science classes over the years, that is a big NO now. I also wanted to be a teacher – which still rings true as something I’d like to do later in my career.
Nicki Morse (Midday Host, Program Director and Morning Show Producer)
It’s hard for me to say what I would do if I didn’t work at WCHL I have almost 30 years in the radio business so I expect I would just be at another station doing similar things. I will say though I’ve worked in large markets and for big broadcast companies and this by far is my favorite job.
I wanted to be a paleontologist so yeah it’s WAY OFF what I’m doing now.
Anna Griffin (Creative Account Coordinator)
I am the Creative Account Coordinator for 97.9 The Hill WCHL & Chapelboro.com! I am responsible for all graphic design and artistic needs as well as social media marketing and promotional marketing. I work directly with our sales team and help them as they manage advertising contracts.
I attended UNC Chapel Hill and graduated in 2019 with a BA in Media and Journalism, with a concentration in Advertising! I will begin my Master’s program for Integrated Marketing Communications at UNC-Wilmington at the end of June 2020. If I didn’t have my wonderful job at 97.9 The Hill WCHL & Chapelboro.com, I would hope to be working for a record label – but still as a designer or in the marketing department! I am a big music lover and would absolutely love to be a part of album release campaigns and other music-related promotional marketing. One day I would love to design an album cover or two and just be a part of the lengthy process involved in putting music out to the world. The cool thing about my job at WCHL is that I get to see some insights into the local music scene (which we are fortunate enough to live somewhere where the local music is absolutely killer) and still utilize my design and artistic skills at the same time.
How did I get my job here? I actually interned after my sophomore year at UNC as a Sales and Marketing intern! I knew I was interested in advertising at that point but was trying to pick up internships to gain some direction. It just so happens that I never left after my internship in 2017, and was blessed enough to have been promoted twice since then to the position I have now – three years later! Time flies when you’re having fun and working with the coolest people around. Pro tip: if you want to turn an internship into a full time job, just keep showing up – they have to say yes eventually! Hahaha…
When I was young I wanted to be a veterinarian! I attended so many vet camps as a kid, both at NC State and UT Knoxville (where I grew up). I am an avid equestrian, so I wanted to be a large animal vet specifically to care for horses and livestock – I just love animals! However, I quickly realized I probably didn’t have the heart to handle a lot of the scary and sad things vets see, so I followed a different path. I still think it’s such an amazing profession and will always love animals (specifically the ponies). I’d say a vet is pretty off base from advertising!
Victor Lewis (Digital Content Editor and Weekend Host)
I’m fond of my current job at 97.9 The Hill & Chapelboro.com because it affords me ample opportunities to practice professional skills that line up nicely with things I think are important anyway – mainly, communicating. Being able to write and speak for a living is as close as I think I’m gonna get to the old “find a job you love and never work a day in your life.” I love playing with language Lego bricks, and doing it professionally is pretty cool.
But, if I wasn’t doing this job in particular? Marine sciences have always greatly interested me – I was a pretty nerdy lil’ kid back in the day, and oceanography/marine biology were my JAM. I spent hours poring over Jacques Cousteau’s “The Ocean World” and “The Living Sea” – and countless other books – just trying to learn more about what went on beneath the waves. I could easily see myself slipping into a scientific and/or conservation role, journalism-based or not. Sometimes you just want to get out there, you know?
Aaron Keck (Afternoon Show Host)
That’s easy – I’d be teaching political science at some college or other. Some of you already know this story: I got my PhD from Rutgers in ’08 and came down here for a two-year postdoc at Duke, and then I just fell in love with the area and decided to stay. (It didn’t hurt that the academic job market pretty much collapsed around 2010.) I still teach American Government at Durham Tech, two days a week during the school year. (Yes, it’s a crazy time to be teaching American government, but honestly it’s never not a crazy time – some times are just crazier than others.)
I went through a bunch of dream-job phases when I was a kid, though. In second grade I was convinced I wanted to be a bartender. (This was my grandparents’ fault – they had this really colorful book of fun cocktails and I just liked to look at the pictures.) Of course I was seven years old and kids that age get words confused – and I had the word “bartender” confused with the word “bachelor.” (True story!) So for about a year, whenever anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d tell them I wanted to be a bachelor. (This culminated when we had to do a project for class on what we wanted to be when we grew up…and I stenciled BACHELOR in huge letters on a giant poster board, along with a picture of a guy pouring drinks.)
Tracel Himmel (Account Executive)
I love my job at 97.9 the Hill because I believe in the importance of a local news source and in all the good work we do for our community. I am in sales and specifically have worked extensively with our nonprofit neighbors to help them amplify their messaging and promote fundraising and events. An added plus is that I get to go to events and contribute!
My road to WCHL has been a winding one: I started in sales at ING Reliastar on Wall Street in New York City, retired for 10 years to raise my children, then returned to the workforce as a freelance marketing and sales professional. I worked with UNC, local philanthropists, the Chamber of Commerce, and now 97.9 The Hill.
If I didn’t work here, I would probably be traveling with my husband and visiting my elderly parents and children now in college.
When I was a kid, I always was a salesperson; top candy seller as a Camp Fire Girl and notorious for selling my neighbors rocks and flowers from their gardens. I like to say I’m always selling to my family; they aren’t always buying! My most important job, however, is a mother, and thankfully I have great job security.
Check out our last staff picks (throwback prom edition) here!
Learn more about 97.9 The Hill’s great staffers on our ‘Meet Our Staff’ page here!
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