Originally published on August 08, 2008

Dennis Constantine

KINK
PD

Veteran radio guy and current PD of KINK and KLTH/Portland, Ore., has been hooked since he was 5

One of the original collaborators on the Triple A Summit is Dennis Constantine. At the time, Constantine was a program consultant and the summit was originally designed as a way to bring together individual clients. Since 1997 he has been PD of one of the great triple A stations, CBS Radio's KINK/Portland, Ore., and is this year's recipient of the Laura Ellen Hopper Visionary Award.

Beginning your career: When I was 5, I was named the class announcer in kindergarten. I used to read the weather forecast into a fake microphone every day to the class. When I was 10, they did some voice tests at my elementary school and chose me to go to WCAO in Baltimore to do some public service announcements to encourage people to drive safely when they're in the area of schools. I saw how much fun everybody was having at the station and said, "I want to do this for a living." At 16, I got a show on an FM community station through my high school. I got my first job when I was 17 as a gopher at a station. By 21 I was program director at WYRE in Annapolis. And at 29 I signed on KBCO [Boulder-Denver]. Then at 49 I moved to Portland and started working at KINK.

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Joining KINK: I was consulting a bunch of clients around the country, including KBCO, and got a call from the general manager of KINK. He said the station needed some help; they'd fallen out of the top 10 and wanted me to come and give feedback. After a while he said they needed more than a consultant: "Would you ever consider moving to Portland and running the station?" At the time, I had quite a busy schedule with my consulting business and said I didn't have time, but after thinking about it for about nine months, I picked up the family, moved out of Boulder to Portland. And we love it here.

Biggest challenge: The economy is affecting us all because the first thing that gets cut is marketing and advertising dollars. All of radio and records are feeling the financial pinch. When advertising is down, everybody gets nervous, so calming fears and keeping the station on track and assuring there are brighter times ahead . . . those are the big challenges.

State of radio: A lot of good people have left out of frustration or retirement, and we're not spending enough time training the next generation. I got started very young. I don't know any 5 or 10 year olds that walk into a radio station today and go, "Wow, I have to do this!" We're not exciting the younger listener. How we get the next generation of music lovers and listeners excited about what's happening on the radio is the big challenge.

Define the triple A format: I always say it's not really a format. It's a collection of stations that don't fit anywhere else because we all march to a different drummer. Some stations are more female-based, some more male-based; it's really a market-by-market situation. Basically the concept is to play music for baby boomers, whether alternative-leaning, pop-leaning or rock-leaning, to fulfill the need in the marketplace to serve adult listeners who aren't served by other stations.

State of triple A: There's a place for triple A in virtually every market if it's done for the needs of that market. What's going to be done in Washington is different than what's done in New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco. Every city has its own flavor and the needs in that market are completely different. Some markets have a couple of classic rock stations covering the nostalgia end, so you need a more contemporary-based station. Some don't have that music covered and need to have that in the mix. It really is being in touch with and understanding the needs of the market.

Being the recipient of the 2008 Laura Ellen Hopper Award: I am thrilled because Laura is somebody I always had a lot of respect for because she was breaking new ground. Doing KFAT in Gilroy [Calif.] was an amazing radio station. Nobody had ever heard anything like it before. Then on to KPIG [Monterey]—I admired her for having the guts to do something different; she marched to her own beat. I always had a lot of respect and admiration for what she did, so to be put in the same caliber is very exciting

Career highlight: KBCO. We had no budget and no money. I built the original record shelves with cinder blocks and boards. I basically signed that station on. I had to convince people to come work for hardly any money. We were paying $3 an hour to do their airshift. Somehow I found a bunch of passionate music lovers and got them together and started that station. It became No. 1 in Denver in the '80s and has stayed near the top since.

Advice for broadcasters: There's only one listener; do everything you can to make that one listener happy. Broadcasters who really connect aim everything they do at one individual listener. When we used to get up and make talks, they'd say, "Pick one person in the audience and connect with them." A songwriter who speaks on a very personal level makes a connection with people. And it's the same with radio stations. If they're broadcasting to a large audience, it becomes very impersonal, so make everything very personal to one person. The other thing that is important is being enthusiastic. When I was growing up, if the disc jockey was excited about a song—even if I didn't think it was great—it was like, "Wow, this must be a great song." And sure enough, after four or five or six times, I would start to love the song. I think we've stripped that away because we're so over-researched. Most stations are only playing songs that are safe, and they end up playing songs nobody doesn't like as opposed to being excited and passionate about a song, whatever it is. Most radio stations just take it for granted. They think everything has to be very measured, but passion to me goes a lot further than being safe.

Liner Notes
Profile: Dennis Constantine
Title: KINK/KLTH Portland, Ore., PD
Favorite radio format: Triple A
Favorite TV show: "The Wire"
Favorite song: "'In My Life,' John Lennon. But it's an unfair question."
Favorite movie: "Diner"
Favorite book: "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving
Favorite restaurant: Lemongrass in Portland
Beverage of choice: Pinot noir
Hobbies: "Taking my dog out. Playing with him for runs, walks and swims, whatever. He is a yellow lab and he's the sweetest thing."
E-mail address: dennis@kink.fm

'A lot of good people have left out of frustration, and we're not spending enough time training the next generation. We're not exciting the younger listener.' —Dennis Constantine