Local radio announcer gaining national recognition

A Lethbridge radio jockey is getting a lot of attention for his craft.

Scott McGregor of 98.1 The Bridge is being recognized nationally for his work in radio. Last week, the station’s program director, who is also the music director and afternoon show host, won the Small Market Music Director of the Year award at the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards.

“They went through all these awards – best program director, best radio station, best music director,” said McGregor. “And then boom, there’s my name on the screen and I was just blown away. Never expected it.”

McGregor has been in the radio business for a number of years, but it wasn’t always a smooth ride.

“You’re ready to go. You’re ready to make a name for yourself and someone says, ‘Yeah, we’ll give you $12 a month, how does that sound?’” said McGregor about his first radio job.

“Someone is paying you to be on the radio, so you take a part-time job elsewhere. For me, it was Arby’s.”

Years later, McGregor managed to pick up the mic full-time. Now it’s his job to make sure dials are turned to his station.

“Here in Lethbridge, people are in their cars and they’re in there for about 13 minutes,” said McGregor. “So I have 13 minutes to impress you, in hopes that you come back and listen to the radio station.”

McGregor won his award in part because he’s taken chances on playing music that many other stations don’t have on the air yet. Every week, the music junkie listens to 25 to 50 new songs.

McGregor plans to keep filtering through a variety of new songs to keep the airwaves fresh for his listeners.

“Just like a normal listener, we get bored of doing the same thing over and over,” said McGregor. “So it’s exciting for us, everyday, to come in and think, what are we going to do tomorrow?”