Southern Belle in Training

Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA

December 17, 2018

Life Update: I'M A MORNING RADIO CO-HOST!!!!

     Join me today in celebrating some very incredible and unexpected career news! 😊I'm so excited to finally be able to share this big news on my blog!







Photography by Kate Greer

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     Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to begin!! So much excitement to share with y'all today. Let's just get big news out of the way first: December 26th, the day after Christmas, will be the first day that I am an official morning radio co-host for a brand new morning show in Charlottesville! Finally getting to type that out on the blog and share my news with all family and friends feels UNREAL! I'm also switching radio stations, and I'll now be working for a station with a much bigger signal and presence in the area, so this is a big move! (By move, I mean only a move across the hall! My company owns six Charlottesville radio stations, all housed in the same building.) Now here comes the longer version of the story, and a bit about why this promotion is such an unexpected dream come true!


     Working in radio was my dream since I was just seven years old, but my dream of morning radio began a little more recently. I actually wanted to be a syndicated night show host when I was growing up! I wanted to be just like popular radio host Delilah, whose show is played on AC and light rock station across the country. I loved Delilah so much that I named my cat after her! Anyways, almost two years ago in January 2017, I began a morning radio internship that I needed to graduate from broadcasting school. I interned from January-March 2017 for The MRL Show in Charlotte. Getting to be around morning radio firsthand and watch all of the creative components come together to make a great show was amazing to me. That experience actually changed my mind about my career goal- and my new dream was to be a morning radio co-host! I didn't mind the crazy early mornings... in my mind it seemed worth it to me to be apart of people's morning and wake them up with a smile on their face.

     While I worked in Vermont last year, I had a few opportunities to be a fill-in on the Star 92.9 morning show when one of the co-hosts took vacation (I usually worked for Star on the weekends, and I worked for a different station weekdays). Star was a Hot AC station, AC standing for Adult Contemporary. AC which means that they played a nice variety of pop music, from the 90s, 2000s, and some current pop hits (the fact they did play a lot of current music is why they were called a Hot AC station and not just AC!). Anyways, I loved getting to fill-in a few times on the Star morning show. This was my favorite opportunity that I had while working in Vermont! It just solidified my dream of morning radio even more.

     Being on a morning show is the most competitive job to get in radio. Since I was still pretty fresh out of undergrad and broadcasting school when I was in Vermont, I set a goal for myself to be working on mornings 10 years after I finished broadcasting school, which would be 2027! Ideally, I wanted it to happen before I turned 30, but that was still years away. That's why after being in Virginia for less than a year, and still being less than two years into working full-time in radio, I am in absolute shock that this DREAM HAS COME TRUE!!

    As I wrote above, I will be moving stations for my new job. It's common for companies to own several radio stations in a city, so I'm literally moving across the hall from 92.7 C-Ville Country to Z 95.1! 95.1 is a heritage station, which means that it's a radio station that has been on-air for decades. The two stations that I've previously worked for (both in Vermont and Virginia) were much newer stations, so to move to a heritage radio station is even more exciting with this big news! Z 95.1 is an AC station, similar to Star 92.9 was. I am just thrilled to be working for a station that plays a fair amount of 80s and 90s pop, as y'all know that I adore my throwback music! The best part of all is that I have a wonderful co-host to help share the show responsibilities and make being on-air more fun! My new co-host Marc was already one of my favorite coworkers, and now we get to work very closely together which is just fantastic. I love the whole Z 95.1 team- my new boss and coworkers are just amazing and hardworking people.

    I will also still do one short prerecorded midday show on 92.7, which is the country station I have been working for since I moved here! 92.7 has a new station manager (radio term for manager is Program Director, or PD!) who is great, so I'm happy that I can still be an active force in the radio station that originally brought me to Virginia.


    I shared on the blog in October that at the end of this summer, I thought that work was going to transfer me to other stations that our parent company owns in a more rural part of Virginia. The couple months where that was going on was one of the hardest things I have ever dealt with. Radio is my dream, but I had just started feeling very settled and at-home in Charlottesville, and I couldn't abandon that feeling to potentially move yet again. It was scary, as I didn't know what would happen with my job! Amazingly, everything worked out better than I could have ever imagined. God is so good! I know this new career opportunity is directly from Him.


     If you would like to listen to the new morning show, you can from anywhere that you live thanks to modern technology!! Marc and I will be on-air M-F from 5 am to 10 am EST. Here are a few ways you can listen if you don't live in Charlottesville:

  1. Directly on the Z website: There is a streaming player right on our website- perfect to listen to from your desktop!
  2. Mobile apps: The TuneIn app allows you to stream live radio from anywhere! Just search Z 95.1. 
  3. Amazon Alexa: Ask Alexa to play WQMZ Z 95.1, and she will play the station for you. 


     I can't wait for December 26th, this wonderful news is a better Christmas gift than I could have ever asked for! Thank you for sharing the happiness with me in today's blog post. With the new job and new year approaching, I finally want to start doing more Radio 101 posts again! I'll definitely have lots to write about. 😊(ALSO- I did a pajama themed photoshoot for this announcement since I'll literally be waking people up for my job from now on!! I love the picture that Delilah is in- her little facial expressions crack me up!)






      God Bless,



       xoxo Annaliese

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15 comments

  1. I am so incredibly proud of you friend! We are going to have so much to celebrate in February!!!! :)

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  2. SO exciting, Annaliese!! And what a perfect time of year for a huge life move! Congrats on the new gig and can’t wait to hear you on the show!

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  3. SO SO excited for you! And you know I've already got your station saved for Christmas music so I'll definitely be tuning in once you're on the morning show!! Also, reading the year "2027" really hurt for some reason. That seems so far away but it'll be here before we know it, I'm sure!

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  4. I know this is the third or fourth time I've told you hahaha but I am SO excited for you! Moving in the same building has to be such a relief. I can't wait to see your NEW studio and all your exciting opportunities as a morning radio host!!!!!

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  5. Congratulations!! So exciting and a great start to kicking off the new year! I love listening to Delilah too, though I don't do it as often as I use to.

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  6. YAY congrats girl!!! Oddly enough I love listening to radio talk shows! I bet you're freaking amazing, and huge congrats on this new exciting change in your life!!! xoxo

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  7. CONGRATULATIONS! This is such fantastic news. I’m so impressed by your dedication and hard work. It’s definitely paid off!

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  8. This is so exciting! Congratulations! Radio seems so fun!

    xo Jessica
    My Style Vita

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  9. I am so excited for you Annaliese!!! And I had no idea I could listen to non-local radio stations so thanks for the tip!

    -Liz
    www.palmettosandpineapples.com

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  10. I feel like EVERY time I read this news, I smile even bigger! Couldn't be happier for you, A! You totally deserve this – and I'm so excited to listen in whenever I can! Crazy that you're living out your dreams so much sooner than you planned! There's so much power in working your tail off and being a total girlboss! so excited for you!!

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  11. That's so awesome, congrats on your next step!!

    xx,
    Leslie / @hautemommie / www.thehautemommie.com

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  12. Congratulations! I feel like working in radio would be so fun. Exciting stuff!

    Brittany | www.pointed-north.com

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  13. Listening now, YOU ARE GREAT!! You were meant for radio!! I do not know the impossible trivia; now I will keep on listening to find out! My guess would be to visit the in=laws, Congratulations!!

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  14. I had it right, and I was calling. I am from MD so I could nor use the prize, but I wanted to try!

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