Behind the scenes at Clear Channel Asheville

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Radio World has the story:

Clear Channel Asheville, N.C., operates six radio stations in the market area. Our studios and business offices were spread between two locations about two miles apart, just enough to make managing a chore for sales, programming and engineering.

GM Ken Salyer had been working to get the staff all in one place for years.

A new building finally was approved in the spring of 2005. We would build on the 61 acre grounds of our legacy AM, WWNC, adjacent to the original transmitter, studio and office building. It was to house the studios, programming and engineering offices and include the main reception area.

Of course, the most favorable location for the building was about 300 feet from the high-power ND tower, carrying 5 kW of 570 KHz.

Hidden in the North Carolina mountains and mostly off the corporate radar, we could deploy engineering technology and utilize systems and software which were beyond what was available at the time. We would be the development mule, as it were, with our staff willing to invest the time and effort to develop those systems fully.

As it turned out, the project was an exciting one and marvelously successful.