91.7-FM WSUW alumni take morning show to California
Released: December 2, 2003
Former 91.7-FM WSUW “Pete and Joe Morning Show” personalities and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater alumi Pete Stauffer and Joe Weber, ’03, have been named the new morning show team at 93.3-FM KZOZ, “The Central Coast Rock Station,” in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The duo will be on-air starting Monday, Dec. 15.
Located in the 170th largest market in the U.S., KZOZ will serve as the perfect starting point for the newcomers.
“Our goal was to land a spot somewhere in the top 200 and we’ve done that,” said Weber, a native of Wauwatosa. “The situation is really perfect for us. The facilities are great and management has been fantastic.”
Stauffer and Weber’s road to California began in spring 2002 with the “Pete and Joe Morning Show” at the campus radio station. The four-hour morning talk show was a mix of news, sports, music, local personality interviews and specialty segments. Originally airing every Monday and Wednesday morning from 6-10 a.m., the show became so successful that by its third and final semester it could be heard every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“The show really opened up a lot of doors for us,” said Stauffer, a native of Jefferson. “It was a lot of fun and great practice for what we’re going to be doing at KZOZ.”
With KZOZ so close to California Polytechnic University, Stauffer and Weber are planning on incorporating aspects of the nearby college campus culture into their show, similar to what they did at UW-Whitewater.
“Cal Poly Tech’s men’s basketball team is very good and we’d like to have some of their players or coaches on the show just like we used to do with UW-Whitewater’s men’s basketball team,” said Weber.
Stauffer agreed. “One of our goals is to gain audience participation from the San Luis Obispo listening area. Hopefully reaching out to the college community will help us do that.”
As far as similarities in format, Stauffer and Weber agree that their new show will have much shorter segments than their “Pete and Joe Morning Show” segments, mostly due to the fact that they’re going to be doing commercial radio versus college radio.
“There are going to be paid commercial spots that we’re going to have to play,” said Weber. “We’re going to have to learn how to ‘trim the fat’ off of our segments so to speak, which will definitely be a challenge.”
Overall, the two are looking forward to this new challenge.
“This is the real deal,” said Stauffer. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time and now this is it. I’m going to be doing something I love and get paid for it.”
“We’re very lucky to have this happen to us so soon,” added Weber. “KZOZ is not your average radio station. They’re taking a risk in hiring two relatively inexperienced broadcasters, but they’re just as excited about us accepting the job as we are. I can tell that they’re in this with us for the long haul.”
WSUW station director and professor Wilfred Tremblay had this to say: “I’m very pleased that Pete and Joe could develop their ‘chops’ at WSUW. I’m sure they’ll do well in California and wherever else radio takes them.”
- Melissa DiMotto ,dimottom@uww.edu
