Jack Kyer (J.J. Christy) was born in Toledo, Ohio to Jack and Doris Kyer on May 3, 1953. Mom was five feet two inches and I weighed nine pounds eight ounces at birth. She didn’t say if there was a lot of screaming but she did say it was the hottest day in May that year. I took that as a hell reference. I attended Arlington grade school where I excelled in math, science, spelling, and being picked on. My four years at Bowsher High School was an eye-opener. That’s when I discovered girls and comedy. While other kids were listening to Led Zeppelin at parties, I was happily listening to the Firesign Theater on my car’s Craig eight-track player. The chance to be funny in public came when a friend urged me to try out for the senior class play. Although all the parts were available, the play’s advisor created a small part for me – that of a German undertaker named Willie Slabem. The evening of the first performance, stage fright set in, which caused me to improvise. That improv turned out to be the funniest line of the night. The advisor, wise man that he was, told me to forget the script and keep my line in. It was my first taste of acceptance.
When it was time for college, radio and entertainment didn’t play into the picture. I was going to be an astrophysicist and work in Houston for NASA. One semester away from getting an undergraduate degree in math and physics with a minor in astronomy, I had an epiphany – I would be a lousy astrophysicist. The same week I came upon a crossroad that would set me on my life’s path. I spied an ad in our college newspaper looking for aspiring radio announcers for the University of Toledo’s station. I applied thinking I didn’t have the credentials to be accepted. Lucky for me, they were only looking for students that had a pulse. I got the job! Happy with my new direction, I came home to tell my mother my plans. She was wary but accepting of my new goal after almost four years in college. A week went by when my mother came home in a panic. At the top of her voiced, she yelled “I just talked to my friend at work who has a friend whose daughter is dating a radio announcer AND THEY DON’T MAKE ANY MONEY!” Staying calm, I assured my mother everything would turn out fine. What could possibly go wrong?
That question was answered the next day in my first communications class, taught by Mr. Richard (Dickie) Knecht who pretty much echoed my mom’s trepidations. He asked the guys how many wanted to get into radio for the chicks and money. We all laughed and raised our hands. With a stone-cold look on his face, he told us that only 5% would ever find a market where we would make a worthwhile salary, put down roots, and make a name for ourselves. Several of those students didn’t return for a second class. I took it as a challenge and came back.
Two years passed, and I was ready to conquer the radio world. Somewhat shy, I decided to start at the bottom of the radio food chain and work my way up. I applied first at Toledo’s Top 40 station, WOHO-AM. The owner was known as “Uncle Lou.” His full name was Lou Dickey (ring a bell?) My interview was late afternoon. I arrived on time with cassette tape and resume in hand. As I entered, Mr. Dickey was behind his desk. His son Lou Jr. (ring a bell again?) was sitting on a chair sweating after having just mowed the station’s lawn, drinking a glass of water. Mr. Dickey didn’t seem too impressed with me because not once did he look at my resume or listen to my cassette tape. Busily doing paperwork and not looking up, he thanked me for my interest and said they weren’t looking for talent at that moment. My first rejection in the industry. It would be 37 years later than his son would visit Reno as the CEO of Cumulus and I was able to ask how much money his father paid him to cut the station’s grass.
Having been rejected by the first station I had applied to, I threw caution to the wind and applied at WIOT-FM. It was an AOR station and number one in town. I was able to make an appointment with the program director and he took me out to lunch. During our meal, he asked me a series of questions. We finished, drove back to the station, and sat in his office. He informed me that he was impressed with my enthusiasm and had answered all his questions correctly. He said there were no full-time job openings, but would I be interested in doing overnights on the weekend. Not wishing to be rejected by a second station, I said “yes.”
Things fell into place and it wasn’t much longer that I was doing the Monday-Friday, 10:00PM-2:00AM shift. From there, I went to the 6:00PM-10:00PM shift. But just like that, I learned about a little something called “ratings.” I was let go by my then-boss Pat Still (shout out to Pat Stills who now does mornings at KNCI-FM in Sacramento.)
My job trail took me to Elkhart, Indiana; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Santa Fe, New Mexico where I was doing utility and weekends. I took the Santa Fe job on the condition that if a perspective station wanted to fly me out for an interview, I could. I did visit some out-of-state stations but for some reason, I gravitated to the offer from a new country start-up called KBUL-FM in Reno. There were only two problems. The first was they didn’t have the money to fly me out for an interview, so I could look around and ask questions and two, it meant going down in market size. I talked it over with my program director at the time, Steve Stucker (now a well-known television presence in Albuquerque.) He told me that country was starting to bust loose and that I should take the job because if things came together, I could come back to Albuquerque as a conquering hero. His words were prophetic because three years later, I received an offer to do mornings at KRST-FM. A job I politely turned down.
To put my career in perspective, I came to the Bull when President Reagan was in office and it would be two years until The Simpsons had their own prime time spot on TV. Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, and Tim McGraw wouldn’t chart a radio single for a couple more years. Plus, I’m still able to deliver the numbers. The afternoon show was ranked #1 12+ in the latest book (Fall 2020.)
In the thirty-three plus years I’ve been here, KBUL-FM became a Cinderella story. We went from the last place country station to the heritage country station it is today. I was able to work alongside some great talent throughout the years. Larry Wilson, former CEO of Citadel and former CEO of Alpha Media trusted my instinct and told me to bring home the gold. I partook of some memorable concerts and backstage shenanigans that could fill-up ten lifetimes. I entertained my listeners with outrageous stunts that are still talked about today. Somewhere in between it all, I found time to get married (get divorced), and raise a beautiful, intelligent 18-year old daughter who speaks sarcasm as well as her father. True, it wasn’t the Chicago or Los Angeles market I dreamed of owning but I was able to be part of that five percent professor Richard Knecht talked about over 45 years ago.
