My Story So Far
Putting it mildly, Friday September 2nd 2016 was a bad day. It started off great... I skipped home from work, show in the can, very much looking forward to the Labor Day weekend. Coming out of the gym I saw an email from work welcoming a new station on 98.3. That's weird, I thought, that's ALT's frequency.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
If you've listened to me on the radio for half a second you'll know that I'm not from round here. I'm proud to be British, I've worked for the holy grail of radio stations in the UK and been lucky enough to work for some top level broadcasters in Ireland, Switzerland and Spain too. But I guess I've always had the American dream.
So, after a year of paperwork, references from high profile players in the entertainment industry, and a LOT of nail biting, I was granted a 3 year O1 visa by the US embassy. This classifies me as an alien of extraordinary ability, and able to make the move to America to work.
To surmise. I said goodbye to my friends, family, and successful career as a DJ in England (blowing my own trumpet I've played to hundreds of thousands) and hopped on a plane to Nashville (actually it took me 3) although not entirely for ALT, 95% so.
The warm reception I've had from the music city has been lovely. And every message that was sent when ALT went away, I was truly touched. It was my motivator to keep the faith, and fight the good fight.
So here we are 7 months later and ALT has returned on the new home of 97.5. I understand that the folks out of Nashville who can't pick us up on FM are disappointed. There are ways around it, tuning in online, on the iHeart Radio app, or you can hear us clear as a bell on the HD 2 of 105.9 if you have a HD Radio.
The fight isn't quite over, in order to stay (and who knows, grow even) we've got to prove that ALT has a dedicated bank of listeners. So please tune in and help spread the word and I will do my utmost best to make the best programs I can for you... With a little help from my band friends of course ;-)
Deal?
Cheers Nashville, you do rock!
Gabby X